Castello Bonoris, Neo-Gothic castle in Montichiari, Italy.
Castello Bonoris is a Neo-Gothic castle on San Pancrazio hill in Montichiari, built between 1890 and 1900 to designs by Antonio Tagliaferri, then Carlo Melchiotti and Giuseppe Rollini. Its rooms reproduce models from Piedmont and Aosta Valley castles: the kitchen follows Issogne, the dining room ceiling Strambino, and the first-floor hall the Sala degli Spagnoli at Manta.
A fortress stood on San Pancrazio hill by around 1000 and was razed in 1168; over the centuries the ruins were plundered. On 20 April 1890 Gaetano Bonoris took over the site, pledging to rebuild the manor in Neo-Gothic style with a large park, modelled on Valdostan and Piedmontese castles. Works, directed after several changes of architect by Carlo Melchiotti and Giuseppe Rollini, ended in 1900.
Giuseppe Rollini painted the rooms using cartoons brought from Turin, chiefly those of the castle of Manta: the first-floor hall of representation repeats the baronial hall of Manta, and the chapel wall reproduces Giacomo Jaquerio's Salita al Calvario from the sacristy of Sant'Antonio di Ranverso. The dining room frieze takes up the "tema dei giullari" of the old inn at Bussoleno.
The castle stands on San Pancrazio hill above Montichiari and has belonged to the municipality since 1996. The tallest tower was badly damaged by a fire in the night of 3–4 December 1977. In September 1975, during work in via 25 Aprile, passages linking the former rocca to the walls were found.
Gaetano Bonoris had the architect Antonio Tagliaferri model details on Turin's medieval rocca, built for the 1884 Italian General Exhibition. Tagliaferri left the project after repeated changes; Carlo Melchiotti and Giuseppe Rollini finished it in 1900. Rollini painted the 15th-century-style frescoes using the cartoons employed in Turin, chiefly those of the Castello della Manta.
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