Now housing the Museum of the Samnium, Rocca dei Rettori fortress has origins dating back to prehistoric times, with a Samnite necropolis (7th-6th century BC) and Roman baths later built on-site. The Lombards fortified the area, adding the Big Tower (Torrione), and an 8th-century Benedictine monastery was later merged into a castle under Duke Arechis II. By 1321, Pope John XXII restored it as a papal residence, and in 1586, it became a prison until 1865.
Perched on Benevento’s highest point, the Rocca consists of two main structures. The Big Tower (Torrione) is a 28-meter Lombard-built tower, modified over centuries, featuring Roman wall fragments, ogival double windows, and turrets. The Palazzo dei Governatori Pontifici is a three-floor palace with barbicans, framed windows, a colonnade, and 18th-century wooden ceilings. The lowest floor housed prison cells, while the upper halls boast elaborate decorations.
The rear garden contains Roman ruins, including slabs from the Via Traiana. A 1640 Lion Monument honoring Pope Urban VIII stands at the entrance, featuring a medieval lion atop an octagonal Roman pedestal.
Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.