Description of the attraction
Castle Castello Malpaga is located in the small town of Cavernago in the province of Bergamo. Its main attraction is the interior decoration, lavishly decorated with frescoes by Il Romanino in the Renaissance style.
The castle, which has a medieval origin, lay in ruins for a long time after a siege in the first half of the 15th century. In 1456, the famous condottiere and aristocrat Bartolomeo Colleoni purchased these ruins from the commune of Bergamo in order to turn them into the center of his growing holdings. He expanded and strengthened the castle and made it not only a military base for his soldiers, but also his residence, which was supposed to demonstrate to everyone around his status and privileges. Castello Malpaga was rebuilt in the style of the Italian Renaissance.
The castle was in the shape of a square, surrounded by two rows of walls and a deep moat. The first row of walls, now extinct, housed stables and barracks, and both rows were notable for medieval battlements. The inner walls of the castle are almost entirely covered with frescoes, although some of them were damaged by vandals. These frescoes, commissioned in the first half of the 16th century by the heirs of Colleoni, depict the visit of the Danish king Christian I in 1474 and the sumptuous reception given in his honor by the condottieri. The reception included banquets, hunting and knightly tournaments. Il Romanino is believed to be the author of the frescoes celebrating the most famous member of the Colleoni family. On the first floor of the castle, you can see another cycle of 17th century frescoes of lesser importance.
In addition to the visit of Christian I, the frescoes depict various allegories - for example, Silence (a reference to the secrecy that the castle attendants had to observe), and idealized portraits of Colleoni and the king. In the courtyard, the creation of which is also attributed to Il Romanino, there is an image of the "Battle of Molinella", in which the same Colleoni won the victory in 1467 at Bologna. Another 15th-century fresco depicts the Virgin Mary and Child - she is in the private office of the condottiere and belongs to the brush of an unknown artist.
