In the past "Este" had come up often in crosswords as a prominent Italian family. I tended to think of them as similar to the Medici, but with a more convenient name for puzzle makers.
It's a little more complicated than that. There is an Este family, but if you look at their history it seems to be less Italian and more Frankish. Looking at the landmarks in Este the town, and their history, a lot of Austrian names come up. That is not that surprising - European borders and history are messy.
Even if you do an internet search for Este Castle, which seemed like a reasonable search, the first result is a castle in Ferrara, which is about 60 kilometers away.
So, the place I went is the castle at Este, near Padova (we went to both Este and Padova that day).
It was built by Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan, who named himself after it, so the place was already Este. After him the house split into two branches, possibly because it went through sons from different marriages, but one of those branches changed their capital to Ferrara, and thus you get the other castle, which I have not seen, but they should be easy to tell apart because the other one is moated.
Castle history can be complicated too. For example, the Margrave who I said built this castle lived from 996-1097, which makes it sound like the castle should be from that time period. Well, the original building is, but that was destroyed, and it had been built upon previous fortifications as well. The current building is from the 1340s, but that had been the castle site and the fort site for centuries before.
Currently the space within the walls is a public garden, and that's what we explored. There were flowers, fountains, paths, and statuary, and I think I remember a play structure too. It's a nice place for families to spend time, and the ice cream shop across from the one entrance probably doesn't hurt.
This was all we saw, but there are other attractions. There is a small palace that houses a museum now, and the Villa Contarini is known for its frescoes and garden. It also may be haunted by a Prussian count whose love was not reciprocated.
http://vignacontarena.com/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g666405-d246561-Reviews-Museo_Nazionale_Atestino-Este_Province_of_Padua_Veneto.html
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment