Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg was born in Vienna on 6 July 1832, second son of Archduke Franz Karl and Archduchess Sophie of Austria. the second son of Archduke Franz Karl and Princess Sophie of Bavaria.

Prince Imperial and Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria.

On the 27 July 1857, Archduke Maximilian married Princess Charlotte of Belgium, the daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians.

 

The usual rigid military education did not mitigate the teenager Maximilian, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph;
In fact, the hidden passion for the exotic was a synonym for mysterious adventures, far from the rigid conformist atmosphere of the court of Vienna.

Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg was able to realize his dream, when eighteen went from Trieste with his brother Charles Louis on the steamer war "Volcano" for a cruise to Greece and East.

 

Maximilian came to Trieste... After boarding, he realized that Trieste with its population and its surroundings represent the vanishing point for reaching the most secret heart of Nature, in an ideal fusion of East and Central Europe.

 

There were many trips, until the culmination of his aspirations: on September, 1854, Ferdinand Maximilian became Rear- Admiral and Commander of the Austrian Fleet and settled in Trieste with his constant presence on the sea.
Massimiliano year after he discovered the wild site of Grignano, near Trieste..On the spur of rock that overlooked the harbor: The right place to built the castle of his dreams!
According to his personal project the castle had to be surrounded by a garden, called "a garden of delights".
The tradition has been fueled by reality and legend regarding the choice of locations.
An ideal residence, away from the city, in the balance between sea and wild nature.
It is said that Maximilian went ashore in the Bay of Grignano, sailing on the ship navy "Our Lady of Health", fleeing a storm, but probably chose to get off the ground at the same point where in the 1660 Emperor Leopold landed to venerate the statue of the Madonna in the monastery church of Friars Minor.
It is true that Maximilian spent that night in the house Daneu, in fact, the next morning he went for a walk on the headland at Grignano.

The magnificent view of the gulf, and the unspoilt natural beauty of the place convinced him to stay there.

In the 1856 he became the owner of a first part of the land: then its properties reached 48,000 "Quadratklafter".

Today we understand because Maximilian wished to live there: Privacy and power could coexist!

The project was commissioned to the engineer Carl Junker but there were several projects and changes.

The interior decoration was commissioned to Frank and Julius Hofman, talented decorators from Vienna.

In 1860 the first floor of the castle was completed and The Castle was called "Miramare".