| Gorizia Castle
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Address: Borgo Castello, 36 - 34170 Gorizia
Phone.: 0481.535146
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Related links:
Gorizia
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The green bulk of Castle
hill is the main feature of
the city, dominating the
historic centre and being an
essential part of the city's
history (the word -Gorica-
means -high ground-)
The hill is
supposed to have
been inhabited
since
protohistory
thanks to its
strategic
position. Access
is granted
through a steep
walk which,
departing from
the Hapsburg
district below,
full of small
shops and
typical buildings,
runs along the
external walls
and ends at the
single-arched
gate called
Porta
Leopoldina
(1660),
decorated with a
rusticated ashlarwork
frame and
stone coat of
arms, the central
one of which
carries the
Hapsburg double
eagle. The gate
leads into
Borgo Castello, whose
buildings still show the original
late-medieval, or even later, traits.
Two adjoining buildings, Casa Dornberg
and Casa Tasso, house the Provincial
Museums of Borgo Castello, where wise
planning has partly reshaped the sections
housing the collections dedicated to
archaeology, fashion, applied arts
(precious exhibits witness the central
European taste, from customs to
furniture), history in the Museum of the
Great War,
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with numerous documents and materials relating to World War I, as
well as the faithful and full of atmosphere
reconstruction of a trench. Walking
towards the castle, the gothic Church of
Santo Spirito, with single nave, bell gable
and suspended prothyrum, shows both
northern-style and Venetian traits.
Silhouetted against the background of the
old buildings and the well-tended gardens,
the Castle has a strong emotional impact:
the result of subsequent interventions since
its original plan, it acquired its present
aspect in the 13th century under the Counts
of Gorizia,
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who built the extant palace
(with five double lancet windows) and the
first ring of wooden walls which was later
replaced, in the 16th century, by the
outside three-tiered face with keeps,
rampart walk and sandstone embattled
walls: such modifications were made
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necessary at the time by the use of firearms.
Under Austrian rule the castle became, as
had happened elsewhere, barracks and
prison; it was severely damaged
during the WW I bombings
which half destroyed
the city. In the 1930s,
the castle was restored
to its 16th-century
original architecture.
The furniture inside,
of various origins,
goes back to the 17th
and 18th centuries and
represents a link with
the noblest furniture
production in Friuli.
Apart from the
already mentioned
Palazzo of the
Gorizia Counts,
the Palazzo degli
Stati Provinciali,
in whose main hall
hang the coats of arms
of 56 noble families, as
well as that of the county,
is notable, too. An important
collection of paintings richly
decorates the rooms. The
educational section on the ground
floor and outside area help approach
the daily military life and weapons of the
Renaissance.
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| PROVINCE OF GORIZIA
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Among the smallest in Italy, Gorizia
province is a unique casket of natural,
historical and cultural beauty, benefiting
from mild climate most
of the year, a place
where, to the
north, the hilly
landscape
of the
Collio area - frequently
terraced and world
renown for its winesopens
to Europe through
the valleys of the Isonzo
and Vipacco Rivers. The
central-eastern part of the
province is of karst...go
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