Castle of Castiglione delle Stiviere

Of the Castle, only the entrance tower of medieval origin and some remains of the walls with a tower remain. The absence of battlements, the squat and rounded shape of the turrets, the rudeness of the older structure have led historians to believe that the imposing fortress was built at the time of the barbarian invasions on a previous Roman castiglione.
The first certain information on the complex dates back to the early 1300s, and refers to the incursions of the Scaligeri militias during the war between Brescia and Verona. At that time the castle looked like a fortress with a wide wall interspersed with seven circular towers and an access tower.
The castle reached its maximum architectural splendor when, with Ferrante Gonzaga, father of San Luigi, Castiglione became the seat of the Signoria. With a series of renovations and expansions, Ferrante made it the family home and the seat of his court. Right there in 1566 Ferrante brought his wife Donna Marta Tana di Sàntena, of whom two years later (9 March 1568), in the residential apartments created from the fortress, he would have had his firstborn Luigi (the future Saint).
In 1567, having received the privilege of minting money, he added the mint building. In 1572 Ferrante prepared other renovation and expansion works: a way to underline his increased prestige, but also to satisfy the needs of a family that was becoming increasingly numerous. In 1577, in the aftermath of a terrible plague from which Castiglione had been preserved, Ferrante had a small church built in honor of San Sebastiano.
The Gonzaga di Castiglione branch was now on the verge of extinction; in 1706, during the War of the Spanish Succession, the castle was destroyed by the retreating French. The ruins, first searched by the population in search of who knows what treasures, remained abandoned for many years, until they were used for the construction of the Cathedral (1762). A marble memorial stone now stands on the site where the young marquis destined for sainthood was born and lived until he was seventeen.