Castle on the Mottolo

The Medieval Castle on Monte Mottolo is now part of the “La Montecchia” mansion and you can visit it by visiting in turn Villa Emo Capodilista and the estate. The set of buildings that cover the small Euganean hill of Mottolo has been for centuries the hospitality of the noble Capodilista family, administrative centre and collection of products from a vast farm estate. It is accessed through a large door dominated by a sturdy dove tree that stands out on a long building that has grown parallel to the road over several centuries. The oldest part is represented by the dove tree, which already existed in the 17th century. In this long building until a few decades ago lived the gastaldo and the farmers responsible for running the large farm of the Capodilista family. Part of the building still preserves the original purpose of cellar, barn and tool shed. At the southern end there is the singular architecture of the body with staircase, worked in front of the eye and supported by three polycentric arches, dating from the late 17th to the early 18th century. Beyond the gate, there is a purely medieval scenery. On the Mottolo stands a castle whose dominant element is a sturdy square tower. In fact, the current physiognomy is the result of a series of heavy building works, carried out between 1924 and 1928, which radically transformed the original structures. The oldest body is the tower that rises in the center of the Mottolo. It dates back to the 13th-14th century, while the north-eastern wing was added in the 17th century. Over the years Twenty the tower was modified with the reshaping of the windows and the elimination of the battlements. The north wing was partially rebuilt and adapted to the rest of the building. The southern wing was built from scratch with a tower at the corner in the southeast vertex which was connected by a wall to the north-east. This resulted in a closed courtyard in place of the pre-existing open space.