Castello di Spessa

On a low hill between Capriva del Friuli and the Isonzo plain stands Castello di Spessa, with a history that includes an early lookout, a noble residence that received Giacomo Casanova, and a neo-Gothic remodelling by Trieste architect Ruggero Berlam. Its crenellated tower rises above the surrounding vineyards.

Why it matters

The estate’s recorded history spans nearly eight centuries. Its guest list includes Giacomo Casanova and Lorenzo Da Ponte; Casanova stayed for two months in 1773 as a guest of Count Luigi Torriani of the della Torre Valsassina line. Rock-cut cellars beneath the castle preserve part of the estate’s earlier fabric. A wine produced by the estate bears the name Rassauer, also the name of a former owning family.

What to notice

The present architecture is largely early twentieth century. Ruggero Berlam reshaped an older building in the neo-Gothic manner, adding an ashlar-faced tower with machicolations, a central two-light window framed by a polychrome stone arch and cornicing along the rooflines. Earlier elements include masonry on the western side and cellars cut into the rock beneath the building, identifiable as medieval work. The facade coats of arms and parkland with vineyard views reflect the residential phase; an eighteen-hole golf course is part of the estate today.

Context and history

The hill of Spessa may have first been used as a lookout post in Roman times and later by the Lombards, watching routes between the Isonzo plain and the hills. The castle took shape in the thirteenth century in the hands of the Ungrispach circle and later passed to the Rassauer family. By the eighteenth century the residence belonged to the counts della Torre Valsassina; Casanova’s host in 1773 was Count Luigi Torriani of that line. Lorenzo Da Ponte, librettist of Mozart, is also named among the castle’s guests. Berlam’s twentieth-century remodelling established the castle’s present neo-Gothic silhouette.