Dobrovo Castle, four towers above the vineyards

The story of Dobrovo Castle

A castle stood here in the 13th century and slowly crumbled over the centuries. In the early 17th century a new Renaissance castle was built in its place, and it has survived almost unchanged. It’s almost a regular square, with symmetrical towers at the corners. The walls were probably built during the Second Venetian War, between 1615 and 1617, and once the danger had passed they were converted into an arcaded hallway.

One of the towers is a chapel dedicated to St Anthony of Padua, decorated with original Gothic frescoes and replicas of others from northern Primorska. If castles are your thing, there are dozens more in the castles in Slovenia guide.

Families and rooms

The first owners are said to have been the Counts of Colloredo, briefly the Marquise Montecuccoli and, from the late 18th century, the Catterini-Erzberg family of Gorizia. In 1872 the property passed by marriage to the Baguer family. On the first floor, the Knights’ Hall keeps the coats of arms of some of these families and a mural showing a naval attack on a city, and today it hosts concerts and other events throughout the year. The Hunters’ Room has Count Baguer’s estate painted on its walls by Clemente Del Neri in 1894, who also painted the staircase.

Zoran Mušič and the exhibitions

The castle brings together graphic works by Zoran Mušič, a Kožbanjšček Gorge experience centre with a VR headset, illuminated panels with maps of Brda from the 16th century onwards and a video on the story of Rebula. The same listing announced a new exhibition, At the Crossroads of Worlds, on life along the border, with photographs, objects and memories from families the border once divided, in a region where it split homes, vineyards and whole communities.

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What’s around it in Brda

Dobrovo, a village of 334 people according to SURS, is the seat of the municipality, and the whole of Brda is close at hand from here. The combined ticket also covers Vila Vipolže, a few kilometres away, the former hunting lodge of the Counts of Gorizia later owned by the Herberstein, Della Torre, Attems and Teuffenbach families, and the walled village of Šmartno. At the villa you need an appointment to see the piano nobile, so it’s worth planning the three visits together.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Dobrovo Castle on GetYourGuide.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Brda for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.