The castle, which was initially built during the second half of the XIV century during the Visconti dominion, was mentioned in a 1409 scroll (preserved in the Trivulziana Library in Milano) and considered as property of the noble Beretta family.
In the following years (1412/1415) the town and the castle were involved in the battles between the Beccaria and Filippo Maria Visconti. The castle, which was completely destroyed, was rebuilt by local noble families (Beretta, Robba, Chiroli) after a pact formed in 1495 and the permission given by the duke Ludovico the More in 1497, aided by the Marquise of Mantova Isabella d’Este’s intercession. The building was concluded at the beginning of the XVI century (1512 as stated by a slab on the facade of the castle) with the dimensional characteristics we can admire nowadays.
The building went under different administrations: the most prominent families were the Beretta della Torre and Chiroli; towards the last quarter of the XIX century the property was given to the Vochieri family, who kept it until 1978. The building has a squared plan, with a surrounding moat and four cylindrical towers protruding at the four corners. The wall fabric shows clear XIX century reconstructions which have characterized the entire upper floor of the building, initially less tall; the towers show the overbridge, evident in the upper third of the four cylindrical structures. One floor is the same height as the castle walls. A stone bridge - common aspect of most castles in Lomellina - substituting the ancient drawbridge, the traces of which were partly reconstructed (see the places of the bolzoni), crosses the moat which was turned into a garden by the ‘20s of the XIX century.
The latest reconstructions of the castle date back to 1882, with transformations to the structure which was turned from its military origins and aims into an elegant residential complex, according to the new-gothic and romantic style of the era. The changes to the original plant have a great visual impact and they are well integrated not only in the surviving structures, but also in the surrounding environment, creating a complex which is tasteful and of great architectural interest .
The Frascarolo Castle is a national monument starting from the fist decade of the XX century.
THE GARDENS OF THE MOAT
The gardens, situated in the ancient moat of the castle, were mentioned first in 1836. On the ground floor of the castle a small balcony, resting on a cylindrical support acting as the base of a fifth tower, overlooks the side of the moat at the South; we descend through two flights of rounded stairs with cobblestone steps into the moat which has been turned into gardens, following the romantic style of the English garden. By moving the soil adequately, a part of the moat was elevated to create the necessary inclination for external access. A garden path with a winding direction, sided by convallaria, crosses the entire moat, between small portions of English grass dotted with white daisies at the beginning of spring. The plants are the ones typical of the XIX century garden: hedges of hornbeam, hydrangeas, camellias, roses, ferns and moss in the more humid areas and a path of lindens on the Eastern side.
