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Palazzo Lantieri was built around 1350, to protect the eastern gate of the city.
It was the guesthouse of the counts of Gorizia, for visitors attending hunting parties and tournaments.

The defence walls, still visible in the park, were reinforced by a ditch connected to the Vertoibizza Torrent. Thus, they surrounded piazza Sant’Antonio – the market square also known as piazza Schönhaus – where, according to the legend, in 1225 the Saint would have received a piece of land as a gift from the count of Gorizia Alberto I.
Next to the old church, he would later build a humble convent, becoming its first guardian. The Saint also erected a chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine.

In 1513, the Lantieri family were given the Schönhaus fiefdom by Emperor Maximilian I, thus they began the construction of the XVI century wing of the palace.
The works were completed in 1524 and the building was decorated with frescoes depicting the 1529 siege of Vienna. In the vaults of a portico of the lower wing, a series of “grotesques” dating back to the mid-1700s were added as well.

After further works, the fortress was eventually transformed into a noble palace which welcomed noble guests during the XVIII and XIX centuries, including Carlo Goldoni, Rosalba Carriera, Pope Pius VI, Metastasio, Giacomo Casanova, and the heirs to the throne of France; many famous painters added further decorations to the palace, like Pavona, Piazzetta and Paroli.

Severely damaged during the First World War, the palace was restored after the following war by the owners Levetow-Lantieri; in the 1970s, an art gallery was opened in the portico, and today it houses modern international masterpieces which perfectly blend with the past, the present, history and art.

The garden

The garden, called Parco della Persiana, has remained intact in its Persian design since 1500: enriched with rose gardens, it develops on a central avenue, with several side paths, leading to a laurel grove (Laurus nobilis) and eventually reaching a final opening with an Omega-shaped hedge.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)