Early Sunday morning we started out our journey. We started with a coffee and a brioche in Pergine.
This town is really cute. I asked the guy at the bar for a brioche with pistacchio and he said we have whole wheat. HAHA I don’t know how he went from unhealthy creamy pistacchio to whole wheat, but I took the whole wheat. Then we took a little walk around pergine, and headed to the Castle!!
I often wonder why all these castles around here are built on huge hills and on the sides of the mountains. But, from what I read about this place is ” Historians use to think Pergine Castle rises on the site of an old prehistoric fortress, which later became a Roman settlement; later on, it was transformed into a Longobard stronghold.”
It was built in the 13th century, and belonged to the Dukes of Austria, under the reign of Margarete Maultasch, and then to the Emperor Maximilian I. (he also had a hand in the Orrido di ponte alto and working with water hydraulics in a nearby town, and next on my list) In 1531, it became the property of the Prince-Bishop of Trento Bernardo Cles. In about 1900 it was sold to a German company and underwent some rather hasty refurbishment, which had it turned into a hotel and restaurant. And it is still a hotel and restaurant!
And now for some technical information on the castle. In 1956 it was bought by Mario Oss and still belongs to his family today.
The castle boasts two surrounding walls: a Medieval part, comprising the defensive features, such as the keep and the towers, and the Renaissance residential quarters. A very unusual historical and architectural highlight is the huge octagonal pillar supporting the vaulted ceiling of the entrance hall. Other interesting features include, the so-called Prigione della goccia (Prison of the Drop), the Camera del camino (the Fireplace Room), which is notorious – popular legends have it that the ghost of a mysterious lady in white is used to appear there – the Sala del trono (Throne Room), and the Chapel of St. Andrew on the first floor. The five rooms on the second floor and the garden are used as exhibition venues.
We ate at the restaurant that used to be the stables. I had tagliatelle with deer that was hunted and killed on the property. It was awesome. And Katrin had Gnocchi with butter and wild herbs. Also very good. After we had our bellies full, we went to go see a huge waterfall.
The next place on our list was Orrido Di Ponte Alto. This is a gorge near Ponte Alto, this ponte was built in the 900s ad. This place “Orrido” is a deep canyon carved by the river Fersina over thousands of years. Here, in the 1500s some of the most ancient hydraulica works in the world were built, in order to protect the city from floods. Two weirs give rise to magnificent 40m high water falls that flow through red rocks, thus creating spectacular light effects.
