Palazzo Reale, Royal palace in Corteolona, Italy

Palazzo Reale in Corteolona was a royal residence, of which only foundations and individual architectural elements remain today. The site contains Roman marble columns and red granite elements worked into the structure of the preserved building remains.

A Lombard king had this palace built in 729 as a summer residence and made it the seat of rule in this region. It was later used by subsequent Italian monarchs as well.

This location served as a stage for significant medieval events and shows through its remains the link between power and Lombardic architecture. The stonework offers clues to the artistic skills of that period.

The ruins are located north of where two rivers meet, in an area with little developed space. It helps to check accessibility beforehand, as the site can only be visited with limited access today.

No excavations have ever been carried out at the site, which was only identified around 1889 within the Cascina Castellaro. Yet the farmyard has yielded Roman marble and red granite columns and a marble pluteus fragment showing a lamb drinking from a cantharus, a piece counted among the highest achievements of Lombard sculpture in the Liutprandian revival. The farm owners donated these finds to the Musei Civici di Pavia in 1912.