For many centuries, South Tyrol’s best-kept Gothic castle has been housing the noble life. It was close to 400 years ago that the Counts of Khuen-Belasi moved into the residence between the hills at the foot of the Mendola mountains. Their doors are open to travellers, revealing classic rooms, a spacious garden and a hall of knights boasting an open fireplace that was named after German bard Rainer Maria Rilke following his poetically immortalised visit in 1897. Looking right at the Gothic chapel recalling times long past, the attached wineries and agricultural premises including horse stables and a duck pond, one might as well feel like a lord of the manor.