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Prasco Castle, on the hills of Monferrato, dates back to the XII century. It has a central body with three semicircular towers, an ancient guesthouse and a long building east of the castle. The central body is divided into a part reserved for the residence of the feudal lord and that used for public functions, including the arms room, the audience hall, the guard’s lodge, and the prison. To the west of the complex, there’s the Chapel and, on the opposite side, the small Parish Church, now restored by the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage.

The gardens

The castle is surrounded by three hanging gardens, built on the embankments within the walls. They contain a perfectly preserved XVII century ice hut and a collection of ancient cultivars of fruit trees planted in the XIX century by Count Giorgio Gallesio; the latter was a prominent political and diplomatic figure and, above all, a renowned scholar author of the “Pomona Italiana”; he is buried in Florence, in the Cloister of the Basilica of Santa Croce.

Prasco Castle was originally a property of the Malaspina, Spinola, and families Piuma, and then it has belonged to the Gallesio-Piuma counts for two centuries.
For ten years, the castle has housed a research institute focused on the agricultural discoveries and techniques by Giorgio Gallesio.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)