Corgna Palace and the Medieval Fortress

Corgna palace and the Medieval fortress at Castiglione del Lago constitute a single museum complex. It is a magical spot, where one can breathe an authentic atmosphere of days gone by. Corgna palace is a very beautiful building, born as a villa for the residence  and leisure of the Della Corgna family. Conceived as a true and proper royal palace, surrounded by flourishing Italian gardens, it was richly decorated and embellished over time. The history of the  Corgna palace is closely  intertwined with that of the Fortress. While the Fortress was being restored and fortified from a strategic-military point of view, interventions on the palace defined it as a noble residence, with restoration and embellishment works. 

In 1503, after mixed fortunes, Giampaolo Bagioni established his residence in Castiglione del Lago and arranged the restoration and extension of the entire complex. Since 1563, by incorporating the previous Baglioni palace, Corgna palace took on its current aspect “similar to a royal palace”. and became the seat of the Della Corgna family The building has a particular inverted L shape, with four floors where in the past were: cellars on the ground floor, kitchen and store rooms in the basement, reception rooms and bedrooms on the two upper floors. Ascanio della Corgna, skilled leader and expert in military architecture, worked on the restoration and military improvements of the complex and especially the Fortress.
His successors continued his work but concentrated mainly upon the palace decorating it.The rooms of the palace were decorated by artists such as Niccolò Circignani, called the Pomarancio, Pandolfi and Savini. The adopted son, Diomede I, created a true and proper reading room. In fact a circle of artists and writers gravitated around the palace and the Della Corgna family, including the poet Cesare Caporali who described the beauty of the palace and its gardens in his poem “The Gardens of Mecenate”.