Fontana Castle

When walking from Tirolo towards Tirolo Castle, a steep path on your left takes you to Fontana Castle, also known as Brunnenburg in German. The castle was built in 1250 by Wilhelm Tarant and got its name from surrounding fountains. Since the 14th century Fontana Castle has seen quite a lot of owners and so the powerful fortress turned first into a ruin, then into a farm and was finally renovated in 1903 by the industrialist Karl Schwickert from Pforzheim in Germany. Only the Kripp family possessed the castle for a longer time, in fact from the 15th until the 18th century.

In the 20th century, when the castle was passed to the de Rachewiltz family, it became a centre of cultural meetings. The American writer Ezra Pound finished here the last of his 120 "Cantos" from 1958-1962. The today's owner, Dr. Siegfried de Rachewiltz, is a grandson of Ezra Pound. He established at the castle the Ezra Pound memorial site and the "Ezra Pound Centre for Literature", which is visited by students from all over the world, as well as an agricultural museum.

The "Fontana Castle Museum" of agriculture, opened in 1974, introduces to the hard life of mountain farmers. Furthermore you can see different animals such as goats, donkeys and some rare domestic animals. Special exhibitions complete the offer of the museum.