Castello di Illasi

Located on the crest of the hill above the town of Illasi, the castle contributed, together with the Soave castle, to the control of the valley floor routes. Built in the 10th century, it became the property, in the 13th century, of the Montecchi, a powerful family made famous thanks to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

The first news dates back to the year 1000 when the castle was owned by a deacon, a certain Moisè. In 1243 it was occupied by Ezzelino III da Romano, the latter indicated by a bull from Pope Nicholas IV as the rebuilder of the complex, which was then in a less than happy state of conservation. Dated 27 June 1289, a document attests to a donation to Alberto I della Scala and his descendants by the pontiff, grateful to the Scaliger for the capture by the latter, in Sirmione, of a large group of "Patarini" heretics. The object of the donation was "the tower with the palace and the rubble which are said to remain from the said castle, with all the rights and its appurtenances as they are known to belong to the Roman Church". Private property of the della Tavola during the 13th century, in 1269 the castle was occupied by Pulcinella delle Carceri, fighting with Mastino I della Scala, who used it as his refuge. The following year the so-called Albertino statute records the deed of transfer of the complex by Umberto della Tavola to Alberto I della Scala together with the castle of Soave and other fortresses. From the Scala family the complex received new vigor and various consolidation interventions. In 1280 an incursion from Padua left the signs of its passage. More serious, however, were the damages caused by the return of the Venetian troops (1405) sent there to wrest the castle from the da Carrara family, allied with Guglielmo, the last of the illegitimate sons of Cangrande della Scala . The captain of the Carrara troops, realizing that the Illasians were in favor of returning the fortress to the Dominanate, set fire to the manor which caused serious injuries.

The castle returned to being a theater of war in 1439. On 28 March of that year Nicolò Piccinino, famous mercenary captain in the service of Filippo Maria Visconti, pitched his tent in Illasi, after having inflicted a severe defeat on the Venetian troops and occupied the castle of Soave. With the Visconti star extinguished and the banner of St. Mark returning, the castle gradually lost its importance in the military field, also as a consequence of the peace policy pursued by Venice. In 1509 this decided to grant it as a fief to a valiant leader Girolamo Pompei, known as "Malanchino", whose family had boasted rights in Illasi for centuries. The investiture represented for the Pompeii not only an act of splendid and dutiful generosity but also constituted their reintegration into a possession enjoyed for centuries and which, through a series of historical-military events, had ended up in "foreign" hands. In reality, Pompeii only truly entered into possession of their fiefdom ten years later, once the war between Emperor Maximilian of Austria and Venice had ended. From an architectural point of view, the castle is divided into two buildings, according to the typical model of the Scaliger fortifications of the Veronese province: the keep, or the lord's residence, flanked by the keep, i.e. the militia dormitory. The wall has an elliptical shape, to circumscribe the hill below; everything was made with large rectangular blocks of hard tuff. The keep is 32 meters high, square in plan with 10 meters on each side, and is connected to the keep, about ten meters away, via a narrow passage. The formwork has an elevated access on a plinth, approximately 8 meters high, with a rectangular base and a total height of 26 metres, divided into two floors. It is crowned with battlements placed on a practicable terrace, the walls are characterized by a single access door located on the southern side. It was rebuilt and strengthened in 1243 by Ezzelino III da Romano and subsequently occupied by Pulcinella delle Carceri, fighting with Mastino I della Scala, who used it as his own refuge. The following year the so-called Albertino statute records the deed of transfer of the complex by Umberto della Tavola to Alberto I della Scala together with the Soave castle and other fortresses. From the Scala family the complex received new vigor and consolidation interventions. Serious damage was caused to it upon the return of the Venetian troops at the beginning of the 15th century, sent to wrest the castle from the Scala family. The captain of the defending troops, realizing that the Illasians were in favor of returning the fortress, set fire to the manor which resulted in serious injuries.

Under the banner of St. Mark the castle lost more and more importance in the military field, also an inconsistency of the peace policy pursued by Venice. For his military merits, the Venetians in 1509 granted Illasi as a fief to their valiant leader Count Girolamo Pompei, known as "Malanchino". The Pompeii family also held their residence during the 17th and 18th centuries, later replaced in the 18th century by the villa built at the foot of the same hill. The castle is structured according to a distributed organization model (keep, castle residence, flanked by the keep, guardhouse dormitory) which would later also be applied in multiple Scaligera fortifications. The keep, with a square plan measuring 10 meters on each side and 32 meters in height, has a part intended for cisterns, warehouse and various services. The Cassero, built just over 15 meters away from the tower, has a rectangular base, has a height of 26 metres, divided into two floors. A city wall delimits the entire hill and is characterized by a single opening to the south. An entire underground area was also discovered, which remained intact with its halls and tunnels still to be explored.