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| Castel d'Ario, the Medieval fortress |
Castel d'Ario is a municipality in the Province
of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 150 km South-East of Milan
and about 15 km East of Mantua.
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| Map from Wikipedia |
Originally called Castellaro, it was an old
feud of the bishop of Trento in the Mantua area.
There are remains of the old castle (four
towers and part of the ring of walls), which, with the now-lost castles of
Ostiglia, Castelbelforte and Goito and the surviving ones of Villimpenta and
Castiglione Mantovano, helped, in the Late Middle Ages and during the raise of
the Gonzaga signoria, to form a powerful line of defence to the northeast of
Mantua, from the ancient Roman street, the Via Postumia and the Po river.
The highest tower is renowned for a macabre
episode: Francesco Pico della Mirandola and his children were left die of hunger
here by Passerino Bonacolsi and in the same tower, the same fate befell the
children of Passerino himself, at the hands of the Gonzaga, after Luigi Gonzaga
conquered the town in 1328.
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| The so called "Torre della fame" |
The parish church of the Assunta, built around
the middle of the 18th century by Girolamo del Pozzo, houses in the
apse three large canvas by Giandomenico Cignaroli (Annunciation, Presentation
at the Temple and Assumption). There is also a font in red Verona marble dated
1428 in the baptistery.
Castel d’Ario was the birthplace of car race
driver Tazio Nuvolari also known as Il Mantovano Volante (The Flying Mantuan)
or simply Nivola: the greatest car driver of all times. Dr Ferdinand Porsche described Nuvolari as "The greatest driver of the past, the present, and the
future."
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| Torino (Turin), September 3rd, 1946 Andrea Brezzi Cup Nuvolari drives a CisitaliaD46 finishing the competition without the steering-wheel 13th at the arrival within 1h 25' 57'' |
"Tazio Nuvolari was not simply a racing
driver. To Italy he became an idol, a demi-god, a legend, epitomising all that
young Italy aspired to be; the man who 'did the impossible', not once but
habitually, the David who slew the Goliaths in the great sport of motor racing.
He was Il Maestro."
By Cyril Posthumus (Pritchard, Anthony (1998). A
Century of Grand Prix Motor Racing. Croydon: Motor Racing Publications. pp. 59.
ISBN 1-899870-38-5.) Abstract from Wikipedia.
Read this article in Italian.
