Monselice

Cini Castle at Monselice

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The most famous monument of the walled city is also known by the name of Castello Cini, after the name of the last owner. Read More
Cini Castle at Monselice

The most famous monument of the walled city is also known by the name of Castello Cini, after the name of the last owner. Currently, the monument is owned by the Veneto Region, which has converted its intended use in a prestigious museum. The castle appears as a complex of buildings divided into four cores, built over a period between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. The oldest two cores consist of a Castelletto and a Romanesque House with an embattled cornice (dating back to the late eleventh century) and a massive tower erected in the thirteenth century by Ezzelino Da Romano, when the infamous ghibellino tyrant elected the fortified palace which the seat of his government. The third core born as a connection between the two medieval buildings is Palazzo Marcello, made in the fifteenth century by the noble Venetian family, which converts the complex from a primarily military structure to a residential use building. The patrician residence is further extended at the end of the sixteenth century, when the owners add a fourth core constituted by the Ca’ Marcello Library. In the eighteenth century it involves a layout of the garden towards the hill, building terraces, courtyards and staircases to connect the various levels of the complex. Subsequently, the monument falls into a state of progressive deterioration, which puts an end to the ownership of the Cini family. In 1935, Count Vittorio Cini performs a thorough restoration of the buildings and restore the furnishing of all the interiors, buying antique furniture and furnishings consistent with the historical phases of the complex. Since 1981 the castle has become public property and is open to visitors.

The main attractions of Castello Cini are: the Council Hall with frescoes and wooden stalls on the walls, the room Jacopino with bevelled fireplace and kitchen with a rich collection of tools in the medieval and Renaissance Romanesque House; the Studiolo “of Petrarch” reconstructed with fourteenth-century furnishings and the Armory, a precious room with frescoed walls and the Carrara motif of red and white checkerboard which contains one of the most important collections of arms and armour in Italy, located in the building of the Castle itself. Do not miss also the rooms in the Ca’ Marcello wing, with bedrooms and rooms furnished with furniture, paintings, sculptures, tapestries and Renaissance ceramics, able to recreate the magic atmosphere of past centuries and bring to life the excitement of a time travel. Finally, at the Palace of the Library are the Antiquarian Lombard, a small museum that houses the relics found at the top of the hill fortress which testify to the presence of a necropolis dating back to the seventh century and the Museum of Rarities “Carlo Scarpa”.

Info
Via del Santuario 11, Monselice (PD)
Tel +39 0429 72468
Fax +39 0429 72468
[email protected]
www.castellodimonselice.it