Soardo-Bembo Castle and Bale’s old town

Updated October 12, 2026.

Soardo-Bembo Castle in Bale joins two defensive towers with a Gothic-Renaissance façade. The former noble residence now houses the Italian Community.

From defensive towers to a noble residence

Above the town gate, between two towers of the former walls, the Soardo family created a residential palace. The façade dates from the early 16th century, while the towers and defensive parts belong to earlier phases of Bale’s history.

The west façade has two quadrifora windows, each divided into four openings by small columns, alongside simpler Gothic windows. Restoration also reopened the original windows in the side towers, which had previously been bricked up.

The castle’s name links two families. In 1618, Veronica Soardo married Alvise Bembo, after which the palace passed to the Bembo family.

Restoration and the palace today

Restoration took place in several phases under archaeological and conservation supervision. Bronze Age objects were found in the basements during the work. In 2015, the project included restoring wall and ceiling paintings, with decoration from the Baroque period and the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The castle now houses Bale’s Italian Community. A business incubator opened in the palace on 9 June 2026, alongside the community’s existing premises.

Through the old town’s stone streets

The old town of Bale developed within the former defensive system, with narrow streets and stone houses. A look at the castle façade can be combined with a walk to the parish church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St Elizabeth. Its crypt houses the lapidary collection, with stone fragments from antiquity to the late Middle Ages.

Tomaso Bembo Square also has the Town Hall, remodelled in the Neo-Gothic style in the 19th century. It houses the municipal administration, while Soardo-Bembo is the former noble residence between defensive towers: two different palaces in the same old town.