Castel Penede
| Castel Penede | ||
|---|---|---|
.jpg) Eastern outer wall and passage roundabout |
||
| Creation time : | first mentioned in 1210 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Nago | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 52 '26.9 " N , 10 ° 53' 11.1" E | |
| Height: | 258 m slm | |
|
||
Castel Penede is a ruined castle in the Italian municipality of Nago-Torbole in Trentino .
location
The ruins of Castel Penede are located at the southern end of a mountain spur extending from Nago , which breaks off almost vertically to the south and east up to 80 meters. From this dominant location one could look out over Lake Garda and see and control the port of Torbole below and the road through the Santa Lucia Valley that ran below the castle hill. In the west and north the spur descends a little more gently towards Sarca and Nago.
The castle owes its importance to this dominant location. The road running through the Valle Santa Lucia was once the most important connection via the so-called Bocca di Nago between the lower Sarca Valley and the Valle del Cameras east of Nago and was an obligatory passage between Lake Garda and the Adige Valley .
The name Penede is derived from the pre-Roman field name "Penna", which means something like ridge, mountain or peak.
history
Origins and first mention
The castle hill of Castel Penede must have been inhabited at least temporarily in prehistory and in Roman times, as finds from these epochs prove. The remains of a Roman necropolis were discovered as early as 1832 , while Gothic and Roman coins from the reigns between Vespasian and Constantine were found at the site of today's castle ruins .
Castel Penede was first mentioned in a document in 1210 in a peace agreement between Ulrich II. Count von Arco and Friedrich von Wangen, Prince-Bishop of Trento, when the bishop confirmed the Count's claims to Castel Penede in return for the promise of compliance with his rights usurped by the Arcos .
The Arcos on Penede
The facility was built a few years earlier under Ulrich II. The Arco family appears in documents as the owner of two further fortifications in Nago as early as the end of the 12th century when they ceded these fortifications to vassals residing in Nago . In the following period the Arco family split into two branches, and while both branches of the family had claims to the family castle in Arco, the property in Nago and Torbole fell exclusively to the branch of Ulrich II. Around 1240 his son, Albert (or Adelpreto) von Arco, was sitting on Penede. In the dispute between Ghibellines and Guelphs , the two branches of the family took different positions, while the Arcos on Penede were counted among the imperial family, the other part of the family belonged to the Guelphs. This split intensified existing underlying resentment between the two families, which was now openly revealed. After the occupation of Trento by the Ghibellines Ezzelino da Romano , Albert was probably killed during the siege of Castel Penede in 1245 by the Guelfan count Rizzardo di San Bonifacio.
In 1265, Riprando, brother of the late Albert, allied with the Scaligians to acquire the castle of Arco. Ulrich III. but got ahead of his cousin from Penede and captured Riprando and his daughter Cubitosa. While Riprando met a presumably violent death in the dungeon of Arco Castle, Cubitosa managed to escape to Trento . She died a year later. In her will of 1266 she stipulated that her property, including Castel Penede, should be given to the Bishop of Trient and, in the second series, to the Counts of Tyrol . Since Ulrich III. was a close ally of Bishop Egno of Eppan , the bishop renounced and the inheritance of Cubitosa passed to Meinhard II .
Penede under the Castelbarco
Meinhard II also underlined his claims to the shares of Cubitosa in the family castle in Arco, from which a dispute with the Arcos developed, which lasted until Meinhard's resignation in 1275. At the same time, his vassals, the Castelbarcos , who already controlled lands in Nago and Torbole, skillfully exploited this swelling dispute and received the investiture for Castel Penede in 1272 for their loyalty to the Count of Tyrol .
In the following years, due to various disputes, changing alliances came about and in 1279 the Arcos even succeeded in conquering the castle held by the Castelbarco, but were driven out again almost immediately by Penede. In spite of everything, the Counts of Arco did not resign themselves to bring Penede back under their control. In 1338 Nicolò d'Arco tried to get the investiture on Penede when the new bishop Nikolaus von Brno took office . When his request fell on deaf ears, he decided in 1340 to seize the castle by force. With the help of Lucchino Visconti , whose son was married to Nicolò's daughter, he besieged Castel Penede. The Castelbarcos had nothing to counter the great superiority of the besiegers, who also used catapults during the siege , which seriously damaged Penede. In order not to have to leave the castle to the Arcos and to save their honor, the Castelbarcos offered Penede to the Bishop of Trento for purchase. The latter accepted and had the castle, which was still surrounded by the besiegers, occupied at the end of November 1340. With the payment of the last installment to the Castelbarcos, control of Castel Penede passed to the Prince-Bishop in 1343. In 1348 the Arcos succeeded in denying the Castelbarcos a declaration stating that the Counts of Arco were the legitimate owners of Castel Penede. As a result of this declaration, Nicolò d'Arco came into the possession of Penede in 1348.
Dante Alighieri's visit to Penede fell under the rule of the Castelbarcos , who had been a guest of the Castelbarcos between 1315 and 1316 at Castel Lizzana near Rovereto . The view from Castel Penede so inspired Dante that he mentioned it in the Divina Commedia in a verse in Canto Twentieth of the Inferno.
The Venetian occupation
During the Lombard wars (1423-1454) between the Republic of Venice and the Milanese dukes Filippo Maria Visconti (1397-1447) and Francesco Sforza (1401-1466), Castel Penede played an important role due to its location.
In 1438 the Milanese troops led by Niccolò Piccinino besieged the city of Brescia , held by the Venetians , from which the Venetian condottiere Gattamelata and his troops were just able to move north over the mountains. During his march back, the castle held by the Arcos, who were allied with the Viscontis, blocked his way in September 1438. Only after the occupiers of the castle were distracted by a mock attack in their back by the Venetian captain from Rovereto who had rushed to help , the way was clear for Gattamelata. Less than three months later, the Venetian condottiere was again under Castel Penede, this time with the specific intention of bringing the complex under Venetian control. He used a ruse and divided his troops to set a trap for the castle garrison led by Francesco d'Arco. While some of the Venetians descended from Nago through the Valle Santa Lucia and were attacked by the occupants of the castle, Gattamelata advanced with the rest of his troops, pinched the attackers and rubbed them open. Francesco d'Arco was captured and Castel Penede fell under Venetian control in December 1438. Only a few months later, the Venetian fleet passed the memorable company Galeas per montes from the Adige Valley towards Lake Garda, also below the castle.
The Venetian era lasted until 1509 when Maximilian I and his troops were able to occupy the castle after the defeat of Venice in the Battle of Agnadello and the associated withdrawal of the Venetians at the end of May 1509.
Return of the Arcos and Decay
As an imperial fiefdom, Castel Penede, which was expanded by the Venetians, returned to the Counts of Arco in 1509. When the Arcos tried to break away from their dependency on the Tyrolean Counts, the troops of the Tyrolean Prince Ferdinand II occupied Penede in 1579. Ferdinand wanted a permanent, secure bond and was interested in buying the castle and the entire Signoria of the Arcos, which the Arcos refused. With the death of Ferdinand II in 1595 a compromise was reached in which the Arcos were allowed to manage their Signoria and Castel Penedes. A final solution came in 1614, when Emperor Matthias reinstated the Arcos as feudal lord. With the renewed handover to the Arcos, the slow deterioration of the system began, certainly connected with the steady loss of importance of this type of defense system due to the increasingly dominant firearms. The Arcos did not undertake any major repairs in the period that followed and were even temporarily relieved of this office because of their poor management of the castle. However, nothing changed in the run-down condition of the system even after it was reinstalled.
The final end of Castel Penede began with the War of the Spanish Succession at the beginning of the 18th century. In July 1703 Austrian troops occupied the castle, probably also because it was feared that the Counts of Arco could make a pact with the French commander-in-chief Vendôme . On July 31, 1703, the French advanced and occupied Nago and Torbole. The next day the siege of Castel Penede began, which lasted three days. On August 4, 1703 the Austrian defenders gave up and Penede was sacked by the French. When the French retreated in September 1703, Castel Penede was already in such poor condition that it was classified as not worth defending. It is not clear whether the French also set fire to the castle and the town of Nago when they withdrew. What is certain is that Castel Penede was abandoned in 1703.
For two and a half centuries, the walls of the castle were only used as building material. During the First World War , the Austro-Hungarian army erected positions on the castle hill that can still be seen today. From the 1990s onwards, the former facility was restored several times by the Autonomous Province of Trento.
description
The structure of the system is difficult to make out today. Parts of the curtain wall are relatively well preserved , especially the eastern and southern ones , which lie directly on the abyss of the Valle di Santa Lucia. Remnants of dovetail pinnacles can also be seen here. The northern and western curtain walls, on the other hand, are largely no longer there, as they were probably used as building material after the castle was abandoned and were easier to reach than the defensive walls built over the abyss.
On the eastern circular wall, on a small protrusion, which can be reached via a passage in the wall, is the former eastern roundabout , while virtually no traces have been left of the western roundabout opposite at the current entrance to the ruin.
In the southern, somewhat elevated area of the area on the precipice towards Torbole, some more significant building remains have been preserved. These include parts of the keep and a cistern that was expanded as a position during the First World War.
The ruins of Castel Penede can be reached on foot in around 15 minutes from Nago.
photos
Remains of the keep
East Side
Nago and the elongated castle hill
Remains of the north and east outer walls
View of the Valle Santa Lucia and Torbole
_3.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
literature
- Giorgia Gentilini, Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Walter Landi: Castel Penede a Nago nel Sommolago. In: Elisa Possenti, Giorgia Gentilini, Walter Landi, Michela Cunaccia: APSAT 6. Castra, castelli e domus murate. Corpus dei siti fortificati trentini tra tardo antico e basso medioevo. Saggi. SAP Società Archeologica srl., Mantua 2013, ISBN 978-88-87115-83-3 ( PDF )
- Aldo Gorfer: Guida dei Castelli del Trentino. Saturnia, Trento 1965.
- Elisa Possenti, Giorgia Gentilini, Walter Landi, Michela Cunaccia: APSAT 4. Castra, castelli e domus murate. Corpus dei siti fortificati trentini tra tardo antico e basso medioevo. Schede 1. SAP Società Archeologica srl., Mantua 2013, ISBN 978-88-87115-77-2
Web links
- History and description of Castel Penede (Italian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aldo Gorfer: Guida dei Castelli del Trentino p. 359
- ^ Giorgia Gentilini, Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Walter Landi: Castel Penede a Nago nel Sommolago pp. 217-218
- ↑ Elisa Possenti, Giorgia Gentilini, Walter Landi, Michela Cunaccia: APSAT 4. Castra, castelli e domus murate. Corpus dei siti fortificati trentini tra tardo antico e basso medioevo. Schede 1 p. 417
- ^ Giorgia Gentilini, Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Walter Landi: Castel Penede a Nago nel Sommolago p. 221
- ^ Giorgia Gentilini, Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Walter Landi: Castel Penede a Nago nel Sommolago pp. 222-224
- ^ Giorgia Gentilini, Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Walter Landi: Castel Penede a Nago nel Sommolago pp. 224–226
- ^ Giorgia Gentilini, Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Walter Landi: Castel Penede a Nago nel Sommolago. Pp. 227-232