Monselice

Monselice lies at the southern edge of the Euganean Hills, southwest of Padua. Its old town grew around the Rocca, a hill fortified with five successive circuits of walls, some of which still stand. The Roman name Mons Silicis recalled the stone of the area, while the medieval fortress commanded the surrounding plain.

The town had enjoyed local self-government as a commune in the twelfth century. The Ghibelline lord Ezzelino da Romano strengthened Monselice in the thirteenth century, making it a principal stronghold. It later passed to the Carraresi of Padua and in the fifteenth century to the Republic of Venice. The town remained within the Venetian mainland state until the republic's fall; after a period of French rule it entered the Austrian Empire.