Castello di Barengo (Sec. XIV)

Magical in its simplicity! !!

An incomprehensible accumulation of stones an absolute disgust .... instead of spending money on this disgusting help Italian families in difficulty

When you see it from a distance, you think you can at least see it up close. With the closer you get, you hardly see it anymore; then asking for information, discover also that it is a private residence, there is no way to see it. ?

I wonder what they will do with all this huge building, the money to fix these things regularly pops out. With all those rooms, big rooms, corners and Washrooms possonoi accommodate a lot of immigrants and keep them to wander in the courtyard of the royal castle with the ordinance smartphone, and not to loiter on the streets of Sant'Agabio all day

The castle of Barengo rises on the hilly relief behind the inhabited center, in an elevated position on the surrounding plain. There are no certain evidences on its foundation, but the first documentation on the presence of a fortress in Barengo dates back to the fourteenth century, when the whole town was moved from the bank of the Agogna to the back of the hill. Protected by fortifications, the town resisted devastation and looting during the wars between Giovanni II del Monferrato and Galeazzo Visconti in the years 1358 and 1362. The construction of the fortress dates back to the second half of the fifteenth century, when the territories of Briona, Barengo and Maggiora became a fief of the Tornielli family (1449). Made almost entirely of bricks, it had a trapezoidal plan with the east and west sides parallel and the southern one inclined to allow greater sunshine of the internal rooms; the western side facing the hill had two corner towers, now disappeared; the entrance was to the north-east, was protected by a moat and was accessed through a drawbridge. Upon Melchiorre's death in 1487, the property did not pass to the eldest son Manfredo, like the castle of Briona, but was divided among the cadet children. The original fifteenth-century structure has undergone numerous modifications and alterations over the centuries, and already in the early nineteenth century it was partially in ruins. In 1849 the fortress was subjected to a restoration work that altered its original layout. In the first post-war period the property passed to Count Gaudenzio Tornielli of Borgolavezzaro, who commissioned the architect Carlo Nigra to reconstruct the complex according to the stylistic canons of the Middle Ages. Further restorations were carried out later by the Boroli family, current owners of the castle. Despite the numerous reconstructions, there are still several testimonies of the original construction, such as the walls of the terraces, the foundations and some entrance doors.

It is fascinating to see it from afar ... (in the same area there are other fortifications ..) But this seems imposing, thanks to the fact that it is in a good position, from which you will certainly have a very deep view of the valley. However, when you get to the possible entrance, you realize that you will not be able to see it inside .. and it is a pity because it makes you curious! It is also difficult to find a convenient parking space.

The castle cannot be visited as it is a prestigious and suggestive private residence; not only that, the high wall and the large wooded park almost completely prevent close-up views. Difficult, therefore, to understand the complex history of the building perhaps born in 1200 by the Tornielli: it was at that time a very large castrum, complete with church and cemetery to serve, therefore, for the whole community. The turning point occurred in 1449 when Giovanni Tornielli received the fief of Barengo from the Sforza and began work on the construction of a turreted fortress in the north part of the old castrum. It was followed at the beginning of the 17th century by Gianfrancesco Tornielli who built an elegant palace next to the fortress which in the meantime had passed to the Ferraris. The 1700s saw the almost complete ruin of the castle due to lack of maintenance, a ruin interrupted only in the 1900s by restorations and reconstructions which however somewhat altered its appearance.

The castle of Barengo is, together with its neighbor of Briona, the best kept and the most scenic in the entire province of Novara. Its first building dates back to the early 15th century; however, in the place where it was built, there was already an older defensive fortress. Unlike other castles, which passed into the hands of various feudal lords over time, that of Barengo remained the property of the noble Tornielli family until the beginning of the eighteenth century, that is, for a period of three centuries. It was they who completed the manor towards the end of the fifteenth century, as well as its twin from Brione. However, the building had to endure a long period of decline, which began in the seventeenth century and ended only in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the reconstruction works began and ended at the beginning of the twentieth century. What we admire today is, therefore, the result of a neo-medieval reinterpretation of the original architecture of the fifteenth-century fortress. Nonetheless, its appearance remains spectacular. Being private property, it is only visible from the outside.