The Della Rovere castle is a Renaissance palace built between 1480 and 1517 in place of a smaller building that had served as a fortress. It was financed by cardinal Domenico della Rovere, who came from Vinovo, and the design is attributed to Baccio Pontelli.
What to see
Inside there are stuccoes and grotesque paintings from the school of Pinturicchio, and a cloister with terracotta decoration. On the main floor, in the hall on the north side, are frescoes by Rodolfo Morgari and his nephew Luigi, from the period when the castle belonged to the Rey family.
Visiting
The castle belongs to the town council and is in use: since 2006 it has housed the public library, and since 2021 a restoration has been under way covering all the façades and the perimeter wall. It stands on piazza Rey, named after the brothers who bought it in 1839 to set up a carpet factory.
Our editors' tip
It was in here, from 1775, that the porcelain of Vinovo was made. The royal factory had its best years from 1780 under the physician and chemist Vittorio Amedeo Gioanetti; with the arrival of the French in 1800 the works declined, and it closed in 1820. That is why the name of this town turns up in ceramics museums.