The Castle of Segonzano

The Castle of Segonzano


	The ruins of the castle: the “Roman” tower, aka “prisons” tower

The Castle of Segonzano is a typical Middle Ages fortress, with battlemented walls and towers; it was built in the 13^th century on a rock spur, around 100 meters (300 feet) above the valley floor.
The place where it's placed was probably the site of a prehistoric hillfort: it was an ideal emplacement, indeed, to watch the ford of the Avisio in the Cantilaga zone.
Usually both the hillforts and the medieval castles are in high places: in the neighbourhood, it seems that one of the more suitable areas is the Dos Venticcia (the Venticcia hill: the place where the legend of the Capelon del Dos is set); actually a prehistoric hillfort was there. Evidently the ford was so important in the historical age that the castle was built by the brook.
One of the reasons of the value of the zone in the Middle Ages is related to Venice and its fleet: the mainmast of the ships, indeed, was done with spruce wood (the best because of strength, flexibility and uniformity). The top quality spruces come from the Forest of Panevéggio, in the Fiemme Valley (also called the Forest of the violins as its excellent wood is used for string instruments and piano sound-boxes): from there the trees were brought to Venice via fluvial ways (firstly covering the Avisio and then the Adige).
This fact has also given a big weight to the Fiemme Valley, which benefited from a strong independence: so it was born the “Magnificent Community of Fiemme” (denomination that the valley still uses.)
Also Verona took advantage from the transit of the wood: the duties that the Lords of the town, the Scalas, demanded for the passing of the trunks on the Adige has built indeed the wealth of Verona and made possible its political and artistic expansion during the Renaissance.

Rodolfo Scancio was the first owner of the castle, since 1216. His family gave the name to the hamlet Scancio di Segonzano in 1938 (and the coat of arms became the emblem of the town). In its long history, many Lords alternated ruling the building: beyond the Scancios the list includes the Rottemburgos, the Greifensteins, several captains of the Dukes of the Tyrol, the Lichtensteins and eventually the a Pratos, that are the current owners. Just the barons a Prato promoted in the 16^th century most of the readjustments of the castle.
The sections of the building that still stand can be easily reached: they are few tens steps far from the built-up area of Piazzo di Segonzano, at the end of the Corvaia trail.
Nobody has been living in the castle anymore for centuries: after the fire caused by the Napoleonic battle of 1796, the barons have trasferred their residence to the “a Prato Palace”, in Piazzo, where they still dwell and administrate a farm. The remains of the ancient stronghold are now surrounded by vineyards and apple orchards.

I owe Father Donato because of his observation concerning the building: in the Middle Ages architecture of Verona often it can be found a peculiar alternation of bricks and limestone (for instance in Palazzo Vecchio).
In the “prisons” tower of the Castle of Segonzano similar alternations of bricks and porphyry can be seen: therefore it's possible that among the workforce that designed and built the building there were architects or labourers from Verona.

In 1495 the vicissitudes of the castle wove with the ones of the German painter and engraver Albrecht Dürer (see the section of this site dedicated to the so-called Dürer's Trail.)

In the official site of the Dürer's Trail (in Italian and German) there's a section dedicated to the castle, with a comparison between the views depicted by the painter and recent photographies taken from the same angle.
You can see that between the building in the end of the 15^th century and the one today there's a big difference!
One of the reasons, beyond the destructions done during the Battle of Segonzano, is that during the years the castle has been used as cheap “quarry” to get building materials (it often happened in times gone by): no doubt that several houses in the vicinity (especially in the hamlet Piazzo) are still built with stones coming from the castle.

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Toresèla

In the territory around the castle there are a few towers popularly called Toresela (literally “little tower”, in Cembran.)

One, surrounded by the vineyards near the town Faver, was built in medieval style, in 1911, by the nobles Tabarelli de Fatis, but until 2007 an adjoining road sign said “TORRESELLA - SEC. XV” (“Little tower. 15^th century”)! It's not clear who put it, but the indication had been standing there for a few years.

The picture on the left refers to that tower.

Another toresela, more ancient, is by the church of Saint Roch, in the Campagna Rasa zone in Cembra: you can see it in the picture below, taken from the photographies by Annalisa Micheli (Storia di Cembra page 435):

A popular belief affirms that the toreselas and the castle are connected through tunnels and that in some of these passages it's still possible to see the torture instruments used in ancient times by the barons and the counts. Certainly we know that the toresela of the Tabarelli de Fatis was connected to the near Villa Perlaia.

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