Castel Beseno

This morning we had some time to kill and only about a week left with the car. So we decided to visit one more place that requires a car: Castel Beseno. Luckily, the weather hasn't been all that bad. The road up to this castle may have been more than I'd have been willing to undertake as a driver if it was actually cold and snowy. Today was a pretty dreary day. I was disappointed at first, but when I saw Tim's photos later, I realized what an eerie kind of ambience the weather gave to the views of the castle.

The castle itself is apparently the largest fortified structure in Trentino/Alto-Adige (the province where Trento is located). It's probably most known for a very famous battle in 1487 between the locals (the "good guys" as Cora would have them labeled) and the Venetians (the "bad guys"). It was at this battle that Roberto Sanseverino was knocked from his horse and drowned in the Adige River due to the weight of his armor. The battle marked a change of strategy from knight-based armies to infantry-based armies (not just because that pesky armor often got in the way).

The castle does have some very cool exhibits for kids they label "It is not allowed not to touch" wherein the kids can try on various pieces of armor (Cora insisted that she had to put her fingers AND thumb in the right places in a gauntlet, even though we tried to convince her that her hand was "troppo piccolo") and shoot off (blunted) bolts from crossbows.

Even if Cora was cranky pretty much the entire time (she doesn't need naps anymore, she's "not tired"... also, she will not need to go to sleep on Friday night... she's "not tired"), the castle was definitely worthy of a visit.

Also, snow.