Castello Superiore Site Features

What survives is the enclosure -- curtain walls with swallowtail merlons, corner towers, and the shell of the keep -- rather than habitable buildings. It reads as a fortification rather than a residence, which is what it was.

The more interesting structure is the connecting wall: two arms running down the hillside to enclose the lower town, so that castle and settlement form one continuous defended system. Walking up beside it is the best way to understand how the whole thing worked.

Construction is brick over stone footings, the standard Scaligeri method, with the Ghibelline merlons that mark Veronese work throughout the Veneto.

The view

The Asiago plateau north, the plain south, and Marostica's walled oval directly below.

The wall walk up

The path beside the connecting wall, about 25 minutes, steep in places.

The enclosure

Curtain walls and towers, open to walk around.

The terrace

A restaurant inside the walls, with tables looking out over the plain.

The castle occupies the summit of the Pausolino, a spur standing out from the edge of the Asiago plateau into the plain, directly above Piazza degli Scacchi. The cherry orchards spread on the slopes either side.