Città Fortificata di San Daniele del Friuli

Built before 1267, the castle was located on top of San Daniele hill. It has now completely disappeared; all that remains is the ancient keep, now used as a bell tower. From a 16th-century description by Girolamo Sini, we learn that the castle comprised three gates, eight towers and a 462m curtain wall. The land on which it was standing was sold by Leonardo and Carlo di Varmo to Giacomo Concina, who in 1756 was officially granted the estate by the Venetian Republic; it has remained a possession of the Concina family to this day. The castle complex contained a central keep flanked by the chapel, the main residence, the guardhouse and the storeroom. This inner part of the castle was encircled by a wall; outside the wall, to the north and the east, there were the houses of the habitatores (castle dwellers), also encircled by walls. Lower down the hill, there was a third circle of walls, preceded by terraces and reinforced by bastions, erected in the second half of the 15th century. Access to the castle was by an entrance tower, provided with a drawbridge and surrounded by a moat which ran across the length of the hill.