This imposing castle rises on a hill dominating the right bank of the Leno river and the ancient city of Rovereto. It was always used as a fortress and never as a residence, not even by the Castelbarco family that owned it for a long time and made it the stronghold from which to extend their power throughout Val Lagarina.
Occupied in 1416 by the Venetian Republic, the fortress was subjected to changes that modified the initial layout. The Venetians gave it its peculiar polygonal shape, the communication trenches for cannon servicing, the moat where several pieces of artillery are preserved, the Marino, Malipiero and Coltrino towers, the spur and the bastion that panoramically look out over the city and the valley. During the centuries, the Rovereto fortress was the center of many bloody battles. In 1487 it was seized by the troops of the Archduke of Austria after a 40-day siege, was burned and devastated, then it was used as barracks and even as a prison. During the First World War it was damaged by the Italian artillery. Then during the Second World War its basements were used by the Rovereto population as refuge from air raids.
THE ITALIAN HISTORICAL WAR MUSEUM
The Castle of Rovereto houses, from 1921, the Italian Historical Museum of the War, one of the most representative in Italy. In a courtyard (with Venetian well 57 meters deep) are exposed, some pieces of artillery, a railway cart pierced by a grenade and one of the service carriages of the King Francesco Giuseppe. Numerous are the rooms in memory of heroes and of war’s places. Up to year 1961, besides it was the jealous custodian of the famous Maria Dolens, the Bell of the Fallen (the greatest bell of the world among those in operation) which, from the near Hill of Miravalle, plays still today in memory of the fallen soldiers of all the wars and of all the Nations