Zumelle Castle is a castle near the village of Tiago in the municipality of Borgo Valbelluna, province of Belluno, northern-eastern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Nearby the castle is the early medieval church of San Donato, of Lombard origins.

History

The first fortification on the site existed perhaps as early as , when the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

were consolidating their hold in the , conquered in the first century BCE. This fortification sat on a strategical location, commanding the road coming from the plain through the Praderadego, which has been identified as the

Via Claudia Augusta The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the valley of the Po River with Rhaetia (encompassing parts of modern Eastern Switzerland, Northern Italy, Western Austria, Southern Germany and all of Liechtenstein) across the A ...

Altinatis – or more likely, one of its side branches. During and after the fall of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

, the castle was the major stronghold of the area as it guarded the connections between Feltre and Ceneda. According to a legend, the ruined fortification was refounded by one Gaiseric (or Genseric), a faithful of queen

Amalasuntha Amalasuintha (495 – 30 April 534/535) was a ruler of Ostrogothic Kingdom from 526 to 535. She ruled first as regent for her son and thereafter as queen on throne. A regent is "a person who governs a kingdom in the minority, absence, or disabili ...

. After her assassination, he established a settlement here and had two twins (Italian: '' gemelle''), whence the name. During the early Middle Ages the castle was the location of a feudal struggle beginning in 737, when the Lombard king Liutprand appointed Valentino, bishop of Ceneda, as lord of Zumelle. This caused a controversy with John, count-bishop of Belluno, who already ruled these lands; the war ended in 750 after the intervention of the new king

Aistulf Aistulf (also Ahistulf, Aistulfus, Haistulfus, Astolf etc.; it, Astolfo; died December 756) was the Duke of Friuli from 744, King of the Lombards from 749, and Duke of Spoleto from 751. His reign was characterized by ruthless and ambitious ef ...

. In 963,

Emperor Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...

gave the county of Zumelle to the bishops of Belluno. In 1037

emperor Conrad II Conrad II ( – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms ...

assigned it to his baron Abelfred. The latter died with no male heirs, and the castle went to his daughter Adelheit, who married Wilfred of Colfosco. Their daughter Sofia in turn married Guecellone II da Camino, and thenceforth the castle was owned by the Caminesi family. The castle was rebuilt in 1311 by

Rizzardo IV da Camino Rizzardo IV da Camino (1274 – April 12, 1312) was an Italian nobleman and military leader, a member of the da Camino family and lord of Treviso. He was the son of Gherardo III da Camino, first lord of Treviso from the family, and Alice da Vivaro ...

, lord of

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

, Belluno and Feltre, but after its conquest by the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

it lost its importance. In 1501 it was sacked by imperial troops during the

War of the League of Cambrai The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fough ...

. Restored, it was subsequently owned by the Zorzi and Gritti families and, after the fall of the Venetian Republic, by the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

. In 1872 it was acquired by the commune of Mel, which is still the current owner.

External links

Page at magicoveneto.it
* http://www.civitaszumellarum.it/ {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1311 Zumelle Buildings and structures in the Province of Belluno Tourist attractions in Veneto