It looks like a large and massive fortified building, with a square plan, with an internal courtyard; around the walls you can see the deep defensive moat, with the characteristic stone arched bridges that climb over it.
The entrance to the fortress are 2: one on the east side and the other on the west, where there was the drawbridge and the towers outpost now completely disappeared.
Francesco Hayez, study for the painting “Il Conte di Carmagnola”, 1820, watercolour, Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense.
Few documents deal with the origin of this particular palace-castle: the first structure is attributed to the Ysei, feudal lords of the area, who built this building in the fourth century, perhaps inside a high-castrummedieval, then fortified in the eleventh century probably by the Longobard family of Mozzi.
The documents attest that in 1412 the property had passed to the Malatesta and then, in 1427, to the Venetian Republic following the confiscation of the assets of the Ysei.
The imposing construction was donated the following year to Francesco di Bussone, known as “il Carmagnola” for his services as commander of the entire army of the mainland. The great leader became lord of the castle only for four years, since in 1432 he was considered a traitor by the Venetians, he was executed in St Mark’s Square in Venice and his property sold to private individuals.
The Carmagnola Castle of Clusane was later purchased by the noble Brescian family of the Sala, who immediately undertook work to transform it into a residence according to the Renaissance models.
A small loggia was opened on the eastern facade with 14 bays, supported by stone columns, and frescoed the band that runs along the attic, while there is no sign of the stone coat of arms of the Sala family, reported on nineteenth-century texts.
Modifications dating back to the sixteenth century are also evident in the inner part of the courtyard, with the well, the porch and the loggia. Through various marriages the castle was then divided into dowries between different families.
In 1641 the Soncini, Maggi, Coradelli and Lana families were the owners, each of whom adapted the housing part to their needs: many important features of the military imprint of the building were modified.
