Built in 1336 by Guglielmo Bevilacqua (skilful timber merchant) and completed by his son Francesco (protagonist of the political life of Verona as ambassador) on behalf of the Scaligeri (the Lords of Verona), the castle was originally erected as a defensive fortress. It was seriously damaged during the period of the League of Cambrai (1508-1510) and in 1532 it was restored and turned into a noble mansion by the architect Sanmicheli. Renovated in 1756 by Gaetano Ippolito Bevilacqua, the castle was put on fire by the Austrian army a century later, in 1848. Afterwards it was restored and adorned with neo-gothic elements by the countess Felicita Bevilacqua and her husband the general Giuseppe La Masa. After they died, the castle became a shelter for the elderly and poor and during the Second World War it became a German military outpost. The castle served as a college of the salesian fathers from the end of the war to 1966, when it caught fire for the third time due to a boiler explosion. Finally, after 1990 it was bought by the Cerrato family, who beautifully restored the interiors and roof garden. Throughout these last decades the castle has regained the former splendour, thanks to a careful restoration. Plays, concerts and interesting events, such as the Medieval Spring Festival and Medieval New Year Festival, are held in the stunning halls and large park. The castle houses: the Armour Room, where you can see a fifteenth-century Turkish chain mail and a seventeenth-century desk; the Medieval Kitchen, with a beautiful seventeenth-century sideboard; the Cellar and the Amanuensis Room, currently serving as didactic laboratories; the Ballroom, where there are two very precious mirrors; the Music Room, where you can see a carved wooden clock, adorned with a pure gold leaf; the Pink Room, a large entertainment room; the Frescoes Room, with an eighteenth-century Provencal sideboard and a pendulum clock. Three sides of the castle are surrounded by a beautiful and impressive, the second largest European, roof garden, where there are centuries-old trees and sixteenth-century wells, remarkable hydraulic engineering works, which lifted water up to a six metres height. Today the castle serves as hotel, restaurant, meeting room and offers guided tours and room for events.