Entrance to Monselice Castle

At the foot of the Rocca hill stands a majestic complex of buildings named Cini Castle, which was turned into a medieval dwelling house, a defensive tower and then into a Venetian villa between the eleventh and the sixteenth century.

The Castle is formed by four principal structures: the most ancient one is composed of the late eleventh-century building called Romanesque House (Casa Romanica) and of the Little Castle (Castelletto) dated back to the twelfth century.

During the thirteenth century the Castle was enlarged with the fortified building called the Ezzelino’s Tower (Torre Ezzeliniana), a massive tower built up by Ezzelino III Da Romano, deputy of Emperor Frederick II of Swabia.
The large rooms in the keep are characterised by “towered” fireplaces made by the fourteenth-century Da Carrara noble family of Padua.
The Marcellos enriched then the Castle in Monselice erecting at the end of the XVIth century the Renaissance building called the Library and restoring the Venetian Courtyard with the private Marcello’s chapel dated back to the early eighteenth century.

The fall of Serenissima Republic at the end of the eighteenth century started a slow and progressive decline for the ancient manor of Monselice. In that occasion the property of the buildings passed from the Marcellos to other local aristocratic families, among which the rich family Girardi-Cini.
During the World War I the Royal Italian Army used the Castle for military purposes, and left it heavily sacked in 1919.
In 1935 the property of the decaying structure passed by inheritance to Count Vittorio Cini – a very refined and cultured person -, who started a radical restoration for the purpose of re-creating a place that accurately reflected the past. To this end, each room was enriched with a precious collection of authentic furniture, paintings, carpets, tapestries, ceramics, instruments and fabrics in Gothic and Renaissance style.
Amazing is the rich and valuable weapon collection in the Armoury.

Since 1981 the CASTLE of Monselice is property of the Veneto Region, becoming a regional museum jointly with the ANTIQUARIUM LONGOBARDO and the MASTIO FEDERCIANO. First under the management of the company Rocca di Monselice srl, with presidents Aldo Businaro and Ferdinando Businaro, since 2017 the complex has been entrusted to Immobiliare Marco Polo srl (sole shareholder: Veneto Region), whose sole director is Aldo Rozzi Marin.