Paternion Castle

As early as 1309, a property called “sand Paternian” is mentioned in documents, indicating an early knightly seat. A castle in Paternion is documented for the year 1354. The dominion of Paternion was established in 1523 by the merger of the Stockenboi and Feistritz offices. Following the Peace of Pusarnitz, these territories came into the possession of the Habsburgs, who sold them in 1517/1518 to Sigmund von Dietrichstein. Sigmund built a large, four-winged castle. His son Sigmund Georg mortgaged Paternion several times before Moriz Christof Khevenhüller von Aichelberg acquired the dominion in 1592 and expanded the castle. In the course of the Counter-Reformation, the Khevenhüllers had to emigrate in 1629 and sold the property to the merchant Martin Widmann. The Widmann family, ennobled as counts in 1640, subsequently called themselves Counts of Ortenburg. A major fire destroyed most of the complex in 1859, with only the west wing surviving. Countess Elisabeth Maria Adrienne Widmann, the last representative of the Widmanns, inherited the property in 1878 and married Count Piero Foscari. Between 1897 and 1898, the castle was partially rebuilt in the historicist style, with the eastern wings in particular being newly constructed.