Castel Roncolo

One of the best castle visits I’ve ever had. It’s a unique place—beautiful, small, yet very complete. The wall frescoes are spectacular, and we really enjoyed both the stories and the spaces. I highly recommend visiting with the audio guide, as it makes the experience even richer. The staff are lovely, and the entrance fee of only €10 is very affordable and well worth it. Overall, we truly loved the visit and it’s definitely worth going.

Absolutely brilliant castle, with beautifully preserved frescoes. It is a great visit and is extremely interesting. We particularly enjoyed the nre education centre, where we learned a great deal and engaged with the exhibits. The castle cat was a real nonus as was the restaurant. Excellent!!!

Beautiful castle that is worth visiting. We had fun, lots of interactive entertainment. We were lucky to meet furry princess there as well😄

Exceptional opportunity to be up close to medieval art in addition to the castle itself. The frescos are beautiful and interesting. It’s slightly arduous getting up the steep cobblestone path to the castle but you’re rewarded with a very nice cafe/bar (we got a great snack plate and two beers for €15). The castle tour is self-guided using an app you download. Was pretty intuitive. The castle is great, but equally great are the views of the valley below.

Great place. Quite and audio guide. Inside the castel the view of the mountains are really good.

Nice Castle, definitely recommended. Pretty decent cappuccino in a shady spot in the courtyard. Ride a bike, park at the bottom of the steep cobbles or ride up the road if you have the gears for it.

Well worth the visit. Got the bus up and then walked down. Bit of a tricky walk up the steep cobblestone path from the bus stop to the castle entrance. Castle was very quiet whilst we were there. Loved taking out time and admiring the frescoes in many of the rooms. Good information provided in English, whilst audio guide is also available via QR code. Stunning views throughout. Highly recommend coming out here.

One of the highlights of our trip. The entrance is easy to miss if you follow google maps. So park and climb up. Enjoy the stunning views of the vineyards that surround the castel. Beautifully restored, incredible history it is 100% worth a visit. You can use the Bolzano card too.

Schloss Rankelstein or Castel Roncolo is a medieval castle on the outskirts of Bolzano, Italy. It is located on a protected porphyry rock along the Val Sarentino Road. Castel Roncolo is particularly famous for its frescos dating back to Mediaeval times. It illustrates authentic knight sagas, literature scenes, court ladies and life on the farm as well as hunting scenes. There's also a castle tavern in the courtyard. I was told there would be a shuttle bus from the city center to the castle parking lot (beneath the castle hill) by the hotel concierge (This turned out to be a misinformation. We were told when we made it to the castle, it was discontinued during the COVID pandemic, and it never got resumed). No problem, we just followed the trail next to the Talfer River, and enjoyed our two-hour easy hike (except from the bottom of the castle hill to the top; about 20 mins of climbing, I don't recommend strollers) to and from the castle. The trail besides the river turned out to be very pleasant. We saw some castles and mansions along the way, mountains in distance, we crossed the river on several bridges. I'd recommend this short easy hike. Here's some history of the castle: In 1237, the original complex was built by the Lords of Wangen, and in 1385, the wealthy merchants Franz and Niklaus Vintler purchased it. This family had it decorated with frescoes and equipped with components that facilitated life in those times, e.g. a pivy and a cistern for water storage. From the 15th century on, it continually kept changing hands, the castle was repeatedly modified and frescoes and paintings were added. A gunpowder explosion in the southern part of the castle destroyed parts of it in 1520, including a circular wall and a donjon, which had to be reconstructed. In 1672, a lightning bolt caused a fire which destroyed the east part of Castel Roncolo, which has no longer been renovated. From the 18th century on, it was no longer inhabited and kept deteriorating. Only when Josef con Görres recognized the value of the frescoes and reported it to Ludwig I of Bavaria, architects and artists started examining the paintings. This continues to the present day.