The Castello di Montesegaleis a rural hilltop medieval fortress. It was originally built in the 14th century but over the next centuries was destroyed and rebuilt. An earlier 11th-century tower may have existed at the site.
Documents from 1164 indicate that Emperor Federico Barbarossa conceded a castle or fortress at Montesegale to Pavia. The property was owned by the Count Gambarana by 1311, who became the lord of Montesegale. In 1415, in retribution for a rebellion against Filippo Maria Visconti, his general Carmagnola captured and destroyed the castle. Count Guido Gambarana was captured, tortured, and executed. In 1451, Palatine Count Ottino Gambarana, the son of Guido, obtained from Duke Francesco Sforza restoration of his feudal inheritance. The position of the counts of Montesegale was confirmed by Emperor Charles V in 1525. The property passed on the Giussani family in 19th century, and then to the Jannuzzelli family.
The castle has outer walls and an inner walled keep. The interior walls were restored in 1900 by Agostino Gambarotta. The portal to the inner courtyard has a Latin epigraph that reads Fiat pax in virtute tua et habondantia in turribus tuis ('May there be peace in your strength and prosperity within your towers'). The castle portico has heraldic shields of the Gambarana family.
In 1975, the castle became the site of the local museum of contemporary art.
References: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.