The Castle and its walls

The Castle and its walls

The effective panoramic view from the main tower of the Castle allows you to have a wide view of the surrounding area both of the plain and the hills. It is an overall vision that proposes extensive cultivation and inhabited areas. Soave, stands in front of it and is still in its original structure of the last fourteenth century. With its walls and its castle. Every space, every single portion of this community reserves surprises and indicates the historical stratification that has deeply engraved not only the stones and bricks that constitute it, but also the humanity that is lived and lives here.

The Castle of Soave

The place where the Castle stands, already shows the whole, antiquity and the different stratifications that have occurred in the hill that houses it over the centuries. Its long history, which probably begins with the advance of Roman domination, and develops further in the medieval era, starting from the tenth century. From the Sambonifacio (as a 12th century document certifies), it passed to the Greppi (1237) and later to the city of Verona.

In the thirteenth century the Scaligeri arrived there. Right now, it acquires its maximum architectural splendor, which is still the current. Its current walled structure bears the date of 1375. The Scaligeri carry out an integral building intervention. Cansignorio della Scala (1340-1375), in the plan of valorization and redefinition of the entire territorial defense system, also intervenes on the fortification of Soave. Space of defense and garrison, the Castle between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, will be the protagonist of some war events, and will host alternately the contending armies.

Since 1696 the Castle has been owned by the Gritti family: it will be transformed into a farm going to affect the ancient upper military garrison. Later it will become the property of the Camuzzoni family that realizing the state of degradation, prepares a restoration, which we can define conservative. The situation created, tries to define the intervention (restore the original structure, recover and safeguard the walls, enhance and promote their use for cultural and tourist purposes). The restoration, carried out by Giulio Camuzzoni (1816-1897) with the advice of some historians is made evident in a volume, which describes, the historical heritage of the Castle, and meticulously every phase of the restoration.

The fundamental role of the Castle was mainly of garrison of the territory; less important was the military function, which however saw some clashes, skirmishes and especially armed presence of the contenders in the different historical phases. The dominations of the Scaligeri, the Venetians, the Visconti, the Carraresi the period of the League of Cambrai (stay of Massiamiliano I of Austria, 1509), the Napoleonic era (Napoleon Bonaparte, stopped there on some occasions during the First Campaign of Italy, autumn 1796) and later, have not affected the appearance due to the constructive initiative of Cansignorio della Scala.

He redefined the width of the walls by consolidating the central fulcrum on the top of the hill (1375).

The Castle, still owned by the Camuzzoni family, is currently open with a variable schedule (seasonal). There is a historic entrance door, Porta San Giorgio, which has a drawbridge. Access inside, leads into three different courtyards. The inner one houses the keep, which is also the highest tower; in the center there is a well; a staircase leads to the house of the Lord; from here you access the top of the keep. There we can find a guard equipe.

All these rooms are furnished according to the medieval taste of the meticulous research of the owner-restorer Giulio Camuzzoni. In a side courtyard there are the remains of an ancient church culminating in three apses. Probably, along with the oldest fortified settlement, the most dated element. The overall restoration of the Lord’s dwelling, the keep, and the entire path highlights, also through some works of art (frescoes) and inscriptions, the very sense of a structure that is of the past, but extremely present and alive.

Today we can admire the Castle in all the wide perimeter determination with the 24 towers and visual appeal. The approach is unique and stimulating to revisit the past and to make it really own.