Nice Pictures Of Duino Castle

There are two castles at Duino: one, still inhabited, has medieval parts that give it a fortified appearance; the other, on a cliff overlooking the sea, is in ruins. This, the earlier castle, occupies a site whose natural features make it extremely well-defended. A steep rocky outcrop is inked to the mainland by nothing more than a narrow and low saddle of land.


The differences between early medieval and late medieval castles generally became less obvious as a result of constant rebuilding as well as restoration. At Duino, in contrast, the distinctive characteristics of the older and the newer buildings have been preserved. The building of the new castle not only left intact the form and dimensions of the old one, but the change of site is indicative of the reasons that led to the abandonment of the security of the cliff.


The medieval part of the castle comprises only a small part of the present building. The adaptation of the castle into living accomodation has so masked the medieval core that only detailed architectural analysis can identify the original parts. There is a walled-up Gothic window in the part of the castle overlooking the sea, the least vulnerable side. This would suggest that the oldest part of the castle was here. The only recognizably medieval part of the castle is the tower. This, with its dressed rectangular blocks of stone and imposing size, is certainly the finest castle tower in Friuli.


The medieval parts of the castle at Duino are exceptional and without equal in Italy. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Bobo Ebhard noted that the architectural models for Duino have to be sought in the castles built around 1200 in Austria, and above all, in southern Germany. Given this unusual choice of model, the question of the origins of the design of Duino Castle is intriguing.




The entrance is decorated with classical statues which, together with the luxuriant Mediterranean vegetation and the view over the sea, make the castle seem more like a delightful villa.


Despite the extensive restoration and rebuilding, today Duino Castle is essentially a sixteenth-century building which retains the essential elements of the medieval plan dating from the mid fourteenth century.





The furnishings and furniture in the castle, now dispersed, were a mixture of Venetian and Austrian. Marie Thurn and Taxis, the patron of Rainer Maria Rilke, restored the castle and its interiors after it suffered damage in the First World War. Click here to view the interior furnishings of the Duino Castle.