Castello di Gambolò, Castle in Gambolò, Italy

Castello di Gambolò, also known as Castello Litta, is a fortress with a quadrilateral/trapezoidal plan and towers at the corners and center, showing the essential features of Visconti-Sforza strongholds. Its walls once had Ghibelline battlements and patrol walkways. The Manica Lunga wing now houses the Museo Archeologico Lomellino on its first floor.

A castrum existed here by around 1000, serving as a fortified refuge for the village. It was repeatedly sacked and partly destroyed in the military campaigns of the 12th and 13th centuries. From 1412 to 1475 the fief of Gambolò was held by Antonio Beccaria. On 30 January 1573 Marquis Agostino Litta bought the fief from the Spanish treasury for 60,400 lire and began turning the fortress into a country villa.

The castle now houses the Archaeological Museum of Lomellina, where visitors can see objects and displays from different periods of the region's past. The collection shows how people lived and worked here across the centuries.

The castle stands in Gambolò, in the province of Pavia. The archaeological museum of Lomellina occupies the first floor of the Manica Lunga wing, the long gallery built against the old walls. The ground floor of that wing is a gallery of about 50 metres with 15 paired columns, and the walls of the older section are exposed brick.

The castle features a distinctive element called Manica Lunga, a long wing added during later renovations. This addition shows how the structure was adapted to meet changing needs over time.