Mirabello Castle

History

Since the 12th century, the area had been occupied by a Cistercian monastery, extended between the Mischia and Carone rivers, immediately north of the town of Mirabello. In 1325 the Fiamberti family of Pavia acquired goods and lands in the area. They probably built the first castle between 1325 and 1341.

In the second half of the 14th century, Galeazzo II Visconti and his son Gian Galeazzo created the Visconti Park, which extended from the Pavia Visconti Castle to the Pavia Charterhouse, located 7 km north, and comprised Mirabello. A document of 1367 reports the sale of the southern part of the Mirabello Castle from Gasparino Fiamberti to Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Between 1383 and 1384, Gian Galeazzo Visconti destroyed the religious settlement to extend the Visconti Park to the north. The Mirabello Castle was incorporated in the Visconti Park and transformed from a military installation into a hunting and leisure manor. The castle was connected to the Pavia Castle by the Corso, a long tree-lined avenue used for horse races.

In the 15th century, with Gian Galeazzo's son Filippo Maria Visconti, a Park Official (later named Captain of the Park) with administrative headquarters in Mirabello began to appear in the documents. Galeazzo Sanseverino inherited Mirabello probably in 1494, on the death of Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza. He renovated the castle between 1501 and 1522, enlarging its western wing and adding the balcony with a masonry parapet. The King of France, the Duke of Alençon (brother-in-law of Francesco I), and Galeazzo Sanseverino himself (Grand Squire of France since 1505) stayed in the building in the months preceding the battle of 24 February 1525, during which Galeazzo died like many other nobles of the French army.

The Mirabello Castle is depicted in a fresco painted at the beginning of the 16th century in the San Teodoro church in Pavia and attributed to Bernardino Lanzani. It appears from the south, behind the Pavia Visconti Castle, among other buildings of the Visconti Park. Mullioned windows are visible on its southern wall. …

Today

The Mirabello Castle is closed to the public and can only be seen from the nearby road. It is expected to be the seat of the future Museum of the Battle of Pavia. Two coats of arms with France and the Sanseverinos symbols recovered during the restoration works were placed in the center of the castle facade, where today are visible.