Palazzo della Rovere

The Renaissance Palazzo Della Rovere was built at the end of the 16th century by Ippolito Della Rovere, Marquis of San Lorenzo in Campo and Lord of Castelleone, as attested by the inscription on the entrance portal. The property was then passed to her daughter Livia Della Rovere, last duchess of Urbino who came to live there after the devolution of the Duchy to the Church in 1631 following the death of the sixth and last Duke Francesco Maria II. In this palace the duchess lived until her death, which occurred in Castelleone on 6 July 1641, as evidenced by the Book of Deaths from 1635 usque year 1673 of the parish archive. Finished to the niece Vittoria Della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, the feud then returned to the ancient Benedictine Abbey of San Lorenzo in Campo at the end of 1743. After the Napoleonic storm and its suppression, the secular Laurentina Abbey still has a very significant heritage in Castelleone, as attested by the Gregorian Cadastre of the early decades of the nineteenth century.Among the many real estate properties in the historic center also the prestigious Palazzo Della Rovere, which in 1836, with the suppression of the “Abbatia nullius” by Gregory XVI, passes to the Cistercian Order. In 1856 the abbot administrator of the Cistercian Order Galgano Delluomo provided for the consolidation and restoration of the property now reduced to a bad condition. Yet a few more years and the new post unitary confiscation will bring to the State an infinity of goods Castelleonesi, including our Palace finished then to the family Compiano that practically keeps it until almost today, when finally the Municipality of Castelleone di Suasa buys it to allocate it as a museum in the context of the project for the development of the archaeological area. Since 2000 the building has been home to the “Alvaro Casagrande Museum” with numerous finds from the archaeological park of the ancient Roman city of Suasa. The Palace, a magnificent example of civil Renaissance architecture well preserved, is accessed by a portal with a round arch with white limestone rusticated cornice, which leads to a central courtyard with hexagonal well in stone slabs with brushwood coat of arms, connected to a burial tank for rainwater collection. A staircase with two ramps leads to the first floor, ennobled by a spacious living room that still preserves a large fireplace with marble shelf on which stands the heraldic sign of the Della Rovere family. The rooms on the first floor are distributed around the courtyard through long corridors with large windows and balustrades to the interior. The building preserves practically intact the system of underground rooms that, centered on the magnificent collection tank, collected the production and service environments, such as the unique kitchen and rooms with presses.