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The Great Castles of Europe
Cristina Gambaro, Paola Calore, and Milena Ercole Pozzoli
A large, lavishly photographed survey of Europe's great castles, tracing fortified architecture from its early-medieval origins to the romantic fantasy palaces of later centuries. Across nearly 400 pages the book roams from Bavaria's mountain strongholds to the châteaux of the Loire, the Alcázars of Spain, and the brooding keeps of Scotland, pairing sweeping color photography with historical text on how and why these structures were built. It is the kind of handsome coffee-table volume White Star specializes in: strong on image and atmosphere, organized to be browsed as much as read. For the armchair traveler and castle enthusiast it offers both a visual feast and a broad orientation to the military, political, and architectural forces that raised these buildings — and to the shift from grim fortress to picturesque monument that defines how we see them today.
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The authors
Cristina Gambaro, Paola Calore, and Milena Ercole Pozzoli are Italian authors associated with White Star, the Vercelli-based publisher known internationally for its large-format illustrated books on architecture, nature, and travel. Their expertise here is in synthesis and presentation rather than original scholarship.
The book
The Great Castles of Europe is a photographic survey — around 380 pages — issued by White Star and distributed in English-language editions (including under the Barnes & Noble imprint). It moves geographically and chronologically across the continent, from the fortresses of the early medieval period through the fairy-tale palaces of the nineteenth century.
How it reads
As a coffee-table book it delivers what it promises: excellent photography and a readable, wide-angle overview. It is a popular survey, not an academic reference, so specialists will find the history general and the selection driven partly by photogenic appeal. For discovering the range and beauty of European castles, and planning where one might want to travel, it is exactly the right kind of book.
For more context
Pair with a scholarly history of medieval fortification for the how-and-why behind the images.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Cristina Gambaro, Paola Calore, and Milena Ercole Pozzoli
- Publisher
- White Star
- Place of publication
- Vercelli, Italy
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- History
- Location
- Colorado