Marostica

Famous throughout the world for the living chess game, Marostica is a small jewel in the province of Vicenza at the foot of the Asiago plateau. The magnificent and well-known Piazza del Castello hosts and revives, in the second weekend of September in even years, the story of the daughter of Castellano di Marostica and the two young Rinaldo d'Angarano and Vieri da Vallonara who are competing for the hand of the beautiful Lionora.
It is considered one of the most beautiful and evocative pizzas in the Veneto, at the center of which a real chessboard is designed.
In the early thirteenth century Marostica belonged to the Ezzellini family, but it was with the turn of the century that the Scaligeri conquered the city and decided to militarize it strongly.
On the same square we find the Inferior Castle, built by the Scaligeri in the fourteenth century, now become Palazzo del Comune, which shows itself with various shades of red and like a small fortress that acts as a view of the beautiful square.
Inside it is possible to admire two valuable frescoes depicting saints, a portal with a mullioned window and, in the open gallery, the frescoed emblems of the Venetian podestàs.
The castle houses a small museum on the first floor with the costumes of the traditional game of chess, weapons and props. Not only the Lower Castle, on the Pausolino Hill there is the Upper Castle, of which the keep and the portals remain.
The history of Marostica is also linked to the processing of straw, an important artisan activity that from the end of the 19th century to the end of the 1960s strongly characterized the local economy. In particular, the production of Marostica cherries should also be mentioned, which is also dedicated to a festival in spring.