The village is named after a monastery that no longer exists: it was destroyed at the end of the eighth century, in the war between Franks and Lombards. That it really was there was confirmed by excavations in the nineteen-nineties, which brought to light foundations of enormous size and a tufa arch on two pillars with elephant's-foot bases, a detail typical of Benedictine building.
The other half of the name is the castle, which stands at the exact point where the river Cherio flows out of Lake Endine. That too seems to have begun as a Benedictine monastery, around the tenth century, with a small settlement beside it called Castro monasteriolo. The army of Frederick Barbarossa destroyed it; the Suardi, a Ghibelline family, rebuilt it as a fortress; in the sixteenth century it became a lordly residence, and today it is privately owned and used for receptions.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Monasterolo del Castello
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