Castel Drena
| Castel Drena | ||
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| Creation time : | first mentioned in 1175 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Partly restored ruins | |
| Place: | Drena | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 58 '11.5 " N , 10 ° 56' 21" E | |
| Height: | 465 m slm | |
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Castel Drena is a hill fort in the Italian municipality of Drena in Trentino .
location
The remains of the once impressive complex, which was restored a few years ago, are located on a hill above the Sarca Valley on the western outskirts of Drena. Boarded in the south of the washed from the Rio Sallagoni gorge through which today a fixed rope leads, and to the east of the Marocche di Dro on the edge, by the Sarca Valley in the Valle di Cavedine leading Strada provinciale passes 84th
history
Castel Drena was first mentioned in 1175 when it came into the possession of the Counts of Arco with the town below . They built a rudimentary predecessor building that had been built by the Lords of Seiano to control the traffic routes between Trento and Lake Garda and which was in visual contact with the neighboring castles in Arco and Madruzzo .
The hill on which the castle was built was already populated in the early Neolithic (between the 4th and 3rd millennium BC), as excavations have shown. When the road leading to Cavedine was extended, numerous ceramic fragments and flint arrowheads from the Bronze Age were found. On the other hand, due to the small number of finds, no reliable information can be made about a permanent settlement of the hill from the Roman period and late antiquity , but settlement can be proven again for the early Middle Ages . The foundations of a church fort consecrated to Saint Martin and an adjoining cemetery from the 9th century, where over 77 skeletons were found, date from this time .
When the castle was sold in 1175 by the lords of Seiano to the counts of Arco, they already had a Roman dungeon , that of defensive walls was surrounded. Within the castle walls were some smaller farm and accommodation buildings for the castle's occupation as well as the St. Martin's chapel, in which, however, no more church functions were performed. The Arcos expanded the facility with increasing power. From the middle of the 13th century, Drena and the other castles in the area were the focus of disputes between various local noble families, the Guelphs and Ghibellines , the Counts of Tyrol and the Prince-Bishop of Trento . In 1266 it was bequeathed to the Seiano family due to a dispute between different branches of the Arcos family, but they were defeated by the Arcos in 1267 in the Battle of Bruttoagosto and subsequently no longer played a major role.
In 1301, Drena was conquered by the troops of the Prince-Bishop Filippo Bonacolsi, after he had started a campaign against the local noble families in which Riva del Garda and the other castles in the area were also occupied to restore his prerogatives on northern Lake Garda. In 1315 Prince-Bishop Heinrich III succeeded. von Metz to settle the dispute with the Counts of Arco in the meantime and to secure the rights to the castle of Drena for three years in a peace treaty. In 1398, with the help of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and Leopold IV under Prince-Bishop Georg von Lichtenstein, a long-term peace between the various parties was signed. In 1433 Drena and other properties were finally given to the Arcos as a fief. In the 15th century, the castle was structurally adapted as a hunting and summer shelter without losing its original function as a defensive structure.
During the War of the Spanish Succession , Castel Drena was sacked by the French under General Vendôme in 1703 after the castle had already experienced a slow decline. In the following years it was left to its fate and slowly decayed, while the population of the area used the castle walls as building material for their purposes. The first restoration took place in 1910, which at least prevented complete decay. In 1983 the municipality of Drena acquired the castle from the Arco family foundation. A year later, an extensive restoration and refurbishment of the complex began on behalf of the Autonomous Province of Trento, during which the former castle buildings were also partially reconstructed, which continued until 1988. Castel Drena has been open to visitors since 1988.
description
The 465 m slm high castle hill is surrounded by a triangular approximately 1 meter thick outer defensive wall equipped with dovetail crenellations , which was built from roughly hewn rubble stones and river gravel stones. In the middle of this 4,200 m² area, which is surrounded by a second inner wall that has only been partially preserved, stands out the 27 meter high keep from the 12th century.
Access is via a roughly paved path that leads to the fortified tower from the 16th century with the outermost entrance gate. Immediately behind it is the second inner gate with the weapon area. To the left of this you can see the remains of a corner tower that served as an entrance gate until the 15th century. Then you pass the ruins of the outer bailey with the former stables and farm buildings. Below, between the inner and outer castle walls, is the former tournament ground. After you have almost circled the keep, you get to the inner courtyard with the foundations of the former Carolingian fort church , which was consecrated to Saint Martin during the restoration , the partially restored multi-storey residential palace and the castle cistern , both of which border the outer defensive wall. The artefacts found during restoration and excavations are exhibited in the residential palace.
literature
- Aldo Gorfer: Guida dei Castelli del Trentino , Saturnia, Trento 1965.
- Flavio Pontalti: Castel Drena. Storia di una collina , Mori o.J.
- Provincia Autonoma di Trento. Servizi Beni Culturali (ed.): Castel Drena. Storia di una collina. Drena Castle: the story of a hill , Mori 1990.
- Augusto Tamburini, Ivo Bertamini: Drena: una comunità, un castello , Grafica 5, Arco 1999.
Web links
References and comments
- ↑ The Seiano family, also spelled Sejano, had their ancestral castle on the slopes of Monte Velo above Bolognano, a fraction of Arco and were the great opponents of the Counts of Arco.
- ^ Provincia Autonoma di Trento. Servizi Beni Culturali (ed.): Castel Drena. Storia di una collina. Drena Castle: The Story of a Hill pp. 41–49
- ↑ Bruttoagosto is a small hamlet on the left bank of the Sarca between Arco and Torbole.
- ^ History of Castel Drena in Italian. Retrieved August 3, 2017
- ↑ Aldo Gorfer: Guida dei Castelli del Trentino pp. 343-344
- ^ Provincia Autonoma di Trento. Servizi Beni Culturali (ed.): Castel Drena. Storia di una collina. Drena Castle: The Story of a Hill pp. 60–62
- ↑ Augusto Tamburini, Ivo Bertamini: Drena: una comunità, un castello S. 143
photos
Keep
The residential palace before restoration
The residential palace after the restoration
Inner courtyard with entrance to the residential palace
