[ Apr.2013 ] The weather was fine on the holiday in late April, so we started from Milan towards Brescia in Italy.
But the traffic jam was so bad that we gave up Brescia and instead went to visit Malpaga Castle just south of Bergamo.
Unfortunately they were having a special event on the day and we could not enter, but the story of the owner of this castle is interesting so I will tell you.
His name is Bartilomeo Colleoni and he was a chief of a hired soldiers in the 15th century.
The hired soldier was called ‘condottieri‘ and paid very well in those days.
He worked for Venice and Milan and made a fortune.
His base was Bergamo, but invested a lot on this Malpaga Castle as a home, and also he did some work for agricultural improvement here.
And the interesting part is that apparently he had three testicles (! )called himself ‘Coglioni’ meaning balls sometimes, and his coat of arms was designed with three balls.
There is this coat of arms in front of the church in Bergamo, where he was buried and they say it is glistened because people stroke it to get fortune.
I will go and stroke it next time.
