During the 1600s and 1700s, the ecclesiastical administrators preferred to stay in comfortable villas in the centre of Levico instead of the old castle which was left to fall into disrepair. In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Trento Curia started selling off buildings that dated back from feudal times in order to raise funds. One of these structures was Castle Selva. On the 18th of April 1779 a town representative was sent to Trento to discuss buying the castle which was completely abandoned and without a roof at that time. It was little more than a source of high-quality materials that were being used in buildings in town.
The castle’s value, for the people of Levico, was not found in the structure itself but in the outbuildings and the land but above all the feudal obligations which the castle represented. Owning the castle meant that the town could legally control all the taxes and other obligations on the townspeople. It was in this way that, through buying the castle, Levico was able to cancel almost 800 years of feudal reign, “buying” their freedom.
