The Brunnsee castle was built towards the end of the 15th century under the feudal rule of the Lords of Pettau. According to the plans of the Italian architect Bartolomeo Montiano, towards the end of the sixteenth century, an important renovation was undertaken: it was originally a moated castle, which also served as a refuge for the local population during the numerous Turkish invasions. Subsequently the Renaissance building was modified, the moat was removed and in the 19th century, the park was added, which surrounds the property today.
Schloss Brunnsee History
Over the centuries, the castle has changed hands very often. In 1837, Marie Caroline Duchess of Berry, daughter of King Francis I of Naples-Sicily and daughter-in-law of King Charles X of France, bought her with her second husband, Prince Charles Ettore Lucchesi Palli di Campofranco. After his death in 1870 and later, Brunnsee was always a place of internationality, where people from different European countries met because of extended family ties.
The castle is now owned by Count Ludovico Lucchesi Palli, a direct descendant of the Duchess.
The castle is surrounded by a park created in the nineteenth century as a romantic garden. It covers about 40 hectares and includes two ponds and several romantic paths, where you will find yourself facing the idyllic nature of southern Styria at every corner.
Among lush meadows and romantic ponds and under the protection of the enormous trees that generations have already experienced, you can listen to the concert of frogs on mild summer nights. From time to time, the silence of nature is broken by the cries of ducks and swans, the numerous canes and cormorants, the sound of crickets and, at night, the howling of owls. Far from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, as if time had stopped here
The 18th century Baroque pavilion was once the fulcrum of a large orange grove that blended harmoniously with the surrounding garden. The two greenhouses on the sides were demolished shortly after the world war. What remained was the ballroom with the painted ceiling of the Augusta painter Franz Ignaz Flurer - an impressive allegory of floriculture and fruit-growing - and a beautiful stucco finish.