DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0036
2 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
bishop Ansferto of Milan, as recorded on a tablet
placed in the church of S. Ambrogio, at the time
of his death in 886.
In the tenth century this fair and fruitful land was
granted to a certain Corrado, son of Count Beren-
garia, who had rendered important services to the
Archbishops of Milan, and now settled on the banks
of the Olona. Here he raised the famous Castello,
with its four square towers, from which his descendants
took their name. This citadel, with crenellated
turrets borne in the lion s paws, figures in the armorial
bearings of his house, and the old town down in the
hollow at the foot of the Rocca still retains the name
of Castiglione d' Olona.
The Captains of Castiglione, as they were termed
in medieval days, rose to high honour under Otho the
Great and the successive German Emperors who
visited Italy ; and two members of the family, Gotti-
frede and Tealdo, were advanced to the dignity of
Archbishops of Milan by Henry IV. But in the
thirteenth century, when Guido Castiglione was
podesta of Como, his castle was razed to the ground
by a rival lord, Ottone Visconti, and the fortifications
were not rebuilt for 150 years. Then an illustrious
ecclesiastic, Branda Castiglione, who enjoyed the
favour of the Visconti dukes and was created a
C ardinal by Pope John NX 111., obtained leave to
rebuild his ancestral fortress on the old site.
Close by, on the summit of the same hill, this
splendid prelate reared the noble collegiate church
with the lofty campanile and red sandstone walls,
that are still standing. Within, its stately choir and
baptistery were adorned with frescoes by Masolino,
the Florentine painter, whom Cardinal Branda had
met in Hungary, when he was sent by the Pope as
bishop Ansferto of Milan, as recorded on a tablet
placed in the church of S. Ambrogio, at the time
of his death in 886.
In the tenth century this fair and fruitful land was
granted to a certain Corrado, son of Count Beren-
garia, who had rendered important services to the
Archbishops of Milan, and now settled on the banks
of the Olona. Here he raised the famous Castello,
with its four square towers, from which his descendants
took their name. This citadel, with crenellated
turrets borne in the lion s paws, figures in the armorial
bearings of his house, and the old town down in the
hollow at the foot of the Rocca still retains the name
of Castiglione d' Olona.
The Captains of Castiglione, as they were termed
in medieval days, rose to high honour under Otho the
Great and the successive German Emperors who
visited Italy ; and two members of the family, Gotti-
frede and Tealdo, were advanced to the dignity of
Archbishops of Milan by Henry IV. But in the
thirteenth century, when Guido Castiglione was
podesta of Como, his castle was razed to the ground
by a rival lord, Ottone Visconti, and the fortifications
were not rebuilt for 150 years. Then an illustrious
ecclesiastic, Branda Castiglione, who enjoyed the
favour of the Visconti dukes and was created a
C ardinal by Pope John NX 111., obtained leave to
rebuild his ancestral fortress on the old site.
Close by, on the summit of the same hill, this
splendid prelate reared the noble collegiate church
with the lofty campanile and red sandstone walls,
that are still standing. Within, its stately choir and
baptistery were adorned with frescoes by Masolino,
the Florentine painter, whom Cardinal Branda had
met in Hungary, when he was sent by the Pope as