The church at Castelnuovo inherited with the title of S. Pietro the
rights of S. Pietro di Klobucac, a little inland on the slope of the
hill (where remains of a monastery or palace of the ninth to the
eleventh century have been found). It was demolished in 1420. According
to tradition some of the objects there preserved came from the older
church. The _pala_ of the high-altar, a panel painting on gesso ground,
the Virgin and Child seated, on the right S. Peter with the keys, on the
left S. John the Baptist with scroll "Ecce Agnus Dei," half-length, is
one thing. The inscriptions are in Roman capitals. Also two
Romanesque-looking bronze candlesticks. The Castello has a square tower,
which has lost the balcony which surrounded it at the height of the
first floor. In the piazza is the Loggia, rebuilt in 1795, as an
inscription states. It was burnt in 1523 together with most of the
houses. The _provveditore_ granted materials for rebuilding, but it was
again burnt in 1575. Until recently this Castello belonged to the
Cippico. It was the birthplace of the historian Katalinic, born here in
1779.

Castel Vecchio was founded in 1481 by Coriolanus Cippico, with booty
gained in the war against Mahomet II. in 1471, as is testified by the
inscription over the gate, "Triremis ex manubiis Asiaticis hanc villam
aedificavit," with date 1481. Tradition says that a house on the left of
the eastern gate with a walled courtyard was also his work. He died here
in 1493, leaving it to his sons Alvise, bishop of Famagosta, and Zuanne,
archbishop of Zara. Over a door in the courtyard is the Cippico crest
with the motto "Omnia exalto." Opposite is a chapel dedicated to S.
Joseph and the Virgin, built by Coriolanus's son Laelius, according to
the inscription, with the incredibly late date of 1695. In 1480 Nicolo
Pisani, count of Trau, received a "ducale" from Giovanni Mocenigo, in
which Cippico was promised munitions of war and men-at-arms to preserve
the Castello, and, by the assurance of security, to attract cultivators
to the fertile country "for greater public usefulness." This seems to
support Karaman's statement that the Castello was founded in 1476. An
inscription of 1492 above the arch between the court and main street
records its ruin by fire and restoration by the senate. In 1500 the
Venetian Government completed Cippico's work at a cost of 500 ducats. It
was called Castel Vecchio because it was the first of the Castelli
founded.