The beautiful Castle of Valbona was built at the order of the Commune of Padua in the 13th century, in an area at the confines of the territories of Padua, Vicenza and Verona. The zone had strategic importance and had seen settlements since ancient times, including paleo-Venetian centres. Beginning in the 1Oth century the zone was under control of the Castello di Lozzo, but this was destroyed by Ezzelino in 1229. The Lozzos rebuilt the castle immediately, and then apparently destroyed it themselves: Nicolo da Lozzo had betrayed Padua in their war against Cangrande della Scala, and then, in 1313, apparently asked the Scaligeri to destroy his castle so that the Paduans could not take possession. The defensive role of Valbona took on greater importance and the Carraresi thus restored and strengthened the castle, beginning in 1338. Ubertino had his personal crest of the Saracen and horns sculpted over the door. The Castle was seat of a garrison, with its own captain, and functioned for the control of the territory. With the fall of the Carraresi signoria the castle lost some of its importance, though it continued its functions of control. The castle has rectangular plan with four hexagonal towers, to the north and south, and two square towers, at the centre of the east and west sides. The master tower in the centre is 22 metres high. The gate had a drawbridge over the moat, which is now filled in.
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