San Felice Castle

San Felice Castle, locally known as Castello di San Felice, lies in the village of San Felice del Benaco, in the Brescia province in the Lombardy region in Italy.

San Felice Castle was first mentioned in 1331 in a document of the Counts of Castelbarco. The castle was, however, built after the demolition of the nearby former castle of Scovolo by troops from the city of Brescia in 1279.

In 1438 there was a war between the Duchy of Milan and the Venetian Republic. The castle was then taken by Niccolò Piccinino, a condottiero (captain of a mercenary company) in service of the duchy, who made it a base for his raids in the territory around Brescia. The Venetians finally managed to take it from the Milanese Viscontis in 1440. And although they strengthened the castle in 1483, during the War of Ferrara, it continued to be a continually contested property and was thus attacked often.

San Felice Castle was destroyed in 1509, during the Italian Wars, on the orders of the French cardinal George d'Amboise. In 1521 it was rebuilt after it had returned into Venetian hands. After that, it did not suffer from attacks anymore, with exception from some raids by German troops led by the Duke of Brunswick in 1528.

In the following centuries the castle lost its strategic importance and fell to ruin. The ruins were then quarried for building materials by the locals, who also started to bury their dead within its walls.

Originally the castle would have had a somewhat square ground plan with a keep in the middle of its west curtain wall. Today only a corner tower, bases of curtain walls and another corner tower, and the gate tower, which has been converted to a bell tower for the nearby parish church, remain. The castle grounds are now still used as a cemetery and ossuary.

The cemetery of San Felice Castle is freely accessible during daytime. Not a very interesting site, but I do like the peculiar corner tower.

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