The earliest sources date back to the year 976, but it seems that the walls of the Castle of Lonigo were already built by the Romans (150-100 B.C.), who founded various colonies in the Vicenza area to monitor the mountains and deal with invasions by the Alemanni.
The castle, under the control of the Counts of Vicenza, was situated on a hill along the Novo River. With the Scaliger and Venetian dominions, sieges and destructions ceased, but by the sixteenth century, the Castle of Lonigo was almost in ruins as the City of Vicenza had suspended its maintenance. Today, only the Keep, about 33 meters high, and the Scaliger Tower, which became a prison, remain.
The restoration project for the tower:
The restoration project for the building of the “former Prisons” aims to recover the functionality and integrity of a historic Leonico building, with the prospect of future use by the citizens. The intervention on the external wall surfaces and the roof of the former prisons is in continuity with the recent restoration of the Scaliger Tower, recovering the portion of the fortification wall that, to the north, enclosed the boundary of the ancient castle. The building, affected by the passage of time, weather agents, and infested by a large colony of pigeons, required an intervention to restore the facades, recover the roofing system, and redevelop the space in front of the buildings in close contact with vehicular traffic. The small square in front of the tower and the former prisons is exclusively pedestrian use as an area pertaining to the historical buildings.
