The castle of Agazzano is a fortification of the
province of Piacenza.
Located in the heart of Val Luretta , not far from the stream, in a
point of slight elevation, where the last hilly slopes give way to the
plains. Composed of two buildings with completely different history, use
and appearance: the renaissance fortress and the eighteenth-century
palace are placed on the edge of the village of Agazzano , near the
square that once defended.
The town of Agazzano assumes importance towards the XIII century as a
market square and small capital of the feuds of the Scotti family . A
family that, with alternate events, lost and regained the castle several
times in the turbulent centuries of the Renaissance , but who managed to
pass on its possession until the princess Luisa Gonzaga born Anguissola
- Scotti (1), who died in 2008.
The current appearance of the fortress dates back to 1475 with the
rebuilding, which took place on existing structures, by the hands of the
Scotti family, who returned to possession after alternating events that
lasted a couple of centuries.
It presents itself as a compact, massive and solid construction, with
stone walls projecting up to half height, where they are marked by a
string course, and a few openings placed at the top, at the roundabout .
It has a quadrangular plan with two round towers on the entrance façade.
Access is allowed on the two opposite sides, from the outside through a
small ravine that still bears the drawbridge, now a masonry bridge, and
on the opposite side from another ravelin that now gives access to the
residential building where once stood another part of the castle.
From the ravelin, through what was the second drawbridge, passing under
the entrance dungeon you enter the inner courtyard with two flights of
stairs leading to the roundabout, covered on three sides by an elegant
portico refined with columns whose capitals they bear noble coats of
arms . The courtyard of the late Renaissance building that housed,
beyond the military quarters, halls with fireplaces and kitchens.
Placed next to the fortress, detached about ten meters, the residential
building was built in the late eighteenth century on the foundations of
the ancient castle, which still existed in 1740 . The building has
maintained part of the perimeters of the pre-existing building and a
quadrangular tower on the north edge. It has an open U-shaped plant
towards the village. Its large rooms with frescoed ceilings are home to
luxurious furnishings.
The buildings are surrounded by a garden designed by Luigi Villoresi.
There are few tracts of the boundary walls in conjunction with the
points of difference in level of the terrain.
It is part of the Association of Castles of the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza
and Pontremoli and can be visited by appointment.
Notes:
1.
Luisa Gonzaga (born Anguissola Scotti dei Conti di Podenzano e Valle)
was born in 1903 to Ranuzio Anguissola Scotti and Carmen Anguissola
Scotti (born Ruggio).
Ranuzio was born on December 8 1877, in
Piacenza.
Luisa married Ferrante Vincenzo Gonzaga on month day 1937,
at age 34.
Ferrante was born on March 6 1889, in Turin.
They had 3
children.
Luisa passed away in 2008, at age 105.
 |
It is not clear from the caption that accompanied this
armorial if the carving is in the castle or in the town.
Location, Agazzano.
COA Scotti Anguissola family & the
Bishops COA of Mons. Should there be a second armorial for
Mons?
Scalabrini celebrate the family who had the church
built & the Bishop who consecrated it in 1884
As evidence
of the union of the two families we have the fusion in the same
coat of arms of elements of the Scotti coat of arms (the stars)
with the element of the eel deriving from the Anguissola coat of
arms. |
See also:
• Italian members of the
Douglas family
•
The ghost of Count Buso
• The Douglas Scotti of
Agazzano
|
