The Visconti Castle of Invorio was a

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

castle located in

Invorio Invorio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Novara. Invorio borders the following municipalities: Ameno, Arona, Bolzano Novarese, ...

Province of Novara The province of Novara () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Novara. In 1992, the new province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola was created through the fusion of three geographical areas whic ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, northern Italy. Only a tower today survives, surrounded by the traces of the ancient walls.

Matteo I Visconti Matteo I Visconti (1250–1322) was the second of the Milanese Visconti of Milan, Visconti family to govern Milan. Matteo was born to Teobaldo (o Tibaldo) Visconti, Teobaldo Visconti and Anastasia Pirovano. In 1287, Matteo's uncle Ottone Visco ...

, Lord of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, was born there in 1250.

History

The first account of a fortification at Invorio dates back to the 11th century. At that time the site was a possession of the counts of

Biandrate Biandrate (Piedmontese: ''Biandrà'', Lombard: ''Biandraa'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about west of Novara. History Archaeological findings h ...

. In the 12th and 13th centuries the castle went under the control of the

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

commune, to finally become a property of the

Visconti of Milan The Visconti of Milan are a noble Italian family. They rose to power in Milan during the Middle Ages where they ruled from 1277 to 1447, initially as Lords then as Dukes, and several collateral branches still exist. The effective founder of the V ...

. Since that time it had been a residence of the Visconti di Invorio, a collateral branch of the Visconti of Milan. Between 1356 and 1358, the castle was heavily damaged during the war that opposed the Visconti to the Marquess of Monferrato. After the castle's demise, the Visconti di Invorio families moved to the nearby area, where they built new houses and a 16th-century villa. In 1742 Alberto Visconti d'Aragona, a member of another Visconti branch, obtained the title of Marquess of Invorio.

Current remains

The area of the ancient castle is isolated on the summit of a relief, surrounded by streets overlooked by the old Visconti houses and villas. The access to the castle was probably located in Via Martinotti, few meters before the surviving tower, where a front gate surmounted by a

Biscione The ''biscione'' ( English: "big grass snake"), less commonly known also as the ''vipera'', is in heraldry a charge consisting of a divine serpent with a child in its mouth; the serpent may be variously described as being in the act of swallowi ...

carved in stone is visible. Another Biscione can be seen above the entrance door of the tower.

Image gallery

File:Dettaglio delle mura che circondano la torre viscontea di Invorio.jpg, Detail of the walls surrounding the surviving Tower of the Visconti Castle of Invorio File:La torre e le mura superstiti del castello visconteo di Invorio nel 2024.jpg, The tower and the surviving walls of the Visconti castle of Invorio File:La torre del castello visconteo di Invorio, nel 2024.jpg, The tower of the Visconti castle of Invorio

References

External links

''Comune di Invorio – Torre Viscontea''

{{Visconti of Milan Castles in Piedmont