Visit the nine castles of Arcevia: a journey through history
The nine castles of Arcevia are small towns where the houses are surrounded and protected by mighty fortified walls, from which you can enjoy beautiful views
They are located in small villages of considerable historical and artistic importance that deserve to be visited one by one and preserve the evidence of stormy times where the walls were the only effective and real defense.
Steep access ramps, bastion doors, towers and gatehouses, covered walkways are common elements of these fortified places.
Clothing suitable for the season and camera
Check the opening times and points of the museums included in the itinerary
Arcevia, once Rocca Contrada, was founded as a municipality in 1201 and remains for the whole Middle Ages one of the most important cities of the Marca, conquering walled villages and territories. The nine castles, still visible in the municipality of Arcevia, became between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries the strategic-military strongholds indispensable for the defense of the territory and the city, still maintain the urban structure and walls of the medieval period. In the history of the Marche Resistance, the Nazi-Fascist massacre of Monte Sant’Angelo (4 May 1944) is of particular importance, for which Arcevia received the bronze medal of military valor from the President of the Republic.
Attested since the early thirteenth century, Avacelli rises between the valley of Esino and that of Misa, on a hill particularly acclive: its location has made it an important military garrison in the Middle Ages. The church of San Lorenzo offers a rich artistic heritage: in addition to the two sculptures included in the Robbian itinerary, you can admire a beautiful sixteenth-century canvas with Madonna and Saints and two elegant wooden statues dedicated to the patron saints of Camerino, Sant’Ansovino and San Venanzo (sec. XVII). Leaving the village, in the direction of Serra San Quirico, you reach the church of Sant’Ansovino: existing at least since the end of the 11th century, it was owned by the abbey of Sant’Elena sull’Esino and, according to tradition, the Templar Order (to which should be reported the coat of arms above the portal). The interior of the church, with a single nave, is especially interesting for the rich and varied decoration of the capitals, probably dating back to the Middle Ages, and for the ancient wall paintings found during the last restoration in 2014 and stil.
Situated on the border with the municipality of Serra De’ Conti, Castiglioni dates back to the end of the twelfth century, even if the current urban structure dates back to the fifteenth century. The castle stands on a ridge and takes on the characteristic elongated plan, cut in two by the main road: coming from Avacelli, you access the village through a neoclassical door, opened in the nineteenth century; coming from Serra De’ Conti, you cross the fifteenth-century door flanked by a quadrangular tower, now transformed into a bell tower. On the square faces the sandstone facade of the church of Sant’Agata: already existing in the mid-fourteenth century, has a beautiful interior recently restored. In the second chapel on the left there is a painting by Ramazzani, signed and dated 1589, with Our Lady of the Rosary among Saints, enclosed in a wooden altar together with the scenes with the Mysteries of the Rosary. In the presbytery there is a fifteenth-century Crucifix of the Umbrian-Marche school; the altar is decorated with the Supper of Emmaus by Bruno D’Arcevia.
Along the road that goes to Serra De’ Conti you cross a beautiful stretch of Arceviese countryside and you arrive, after passing the junction for Conelle, at the castle of Piticchio. Named for the first time in a document of the early thirteenth century, castrum Peticli is fortified between four and five hundred. The castle is accessed through a nineteenth-century door, which precedes the original one by a few meters, consisting of a pointed arch on which was built, at the end of the nineteenth century, the clock tower; the walls, rebuilt in the sixteenth century, It is well preserved and gives the village a particularly suggestive aspect: in some places the covered walkway is preserved, from which you can enjoy a beautiful view towards Arcevia. Among the houses that overlook the main road is the eighteenth-century Palazzo Carletti Giampieri (number 32), which contains inside a beautiful neoclassical theater, among the smallest in Europe, which still retains the original backdrops. On the main square is the Baroque church of San Sebastiano, inside which there is a precious gilded wooden altar that contains three paintings by Ramazzani with the last supper and laterally the Saints Sebastian and Anna (late sixteenth century).
It is located along the valley of Nevola, a tributary of Cesano, on the border with the town of San Lorenzo in Campo. Probably built at the beginning of the thirteenth century, it is part of the property of the Bishop of Fossombrone until 1431, the year in which, according to tradition, the castellans rebelled and killed Count Raniero, grandson of the bishop, who wanted to practice jus primae noctis on the castle girls. Following this episode, the inhabitants, submitted to Rocca Contrada, obtained to become owners of the assets of the count: this heritage is collectively ceded, in 1460, to the men of Nidastore, whose institution is still existing today. The walls, rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century, is partly visible and has been used over the years as a basis for the construction of various houses. The church of the castle is dedicated to San Sebastiano, rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century, and preserves inside a seventeenth-century canvas with the Crucifixion.
The charming castle of Loretello, located north of Arcevia, was built in 1072 by the monks of Fonte Avellana, along with the church of Sant’Andrea. The current appearance dates back to the fifteenth century. The brick walls have a triangular pattern and is marked by angular towers and reinforcement mid-side; the access door with round arch is equipped with a spectacular access bridge to three arches; on the opposite side there is a powerful circular tower, to defend the area most exposed to attack. Inside the door was recently set up a collection of objects and tools of the Peasant Civilization. Opposite is the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, recently restored, built in the early seventeenth century. Going out of the walls towards San Pietro, there is the church of Sant’Andrea, of medieval layout, rebuilt in the fifteenth century and restructured between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Inside there is a Madonna and Child painted by Terenzio Terenzi known as il Rondolino (1570-1616), a pupil of Federico Barocci, and on the high altar a Crucifix Christ between Saints Andrea and Giovanni Evangelista painted by Giambattista Galeotti, pupil of Ramazzani (1591).
This castle, located a short distance from Loretello, already exists at the beginning of the thirteenth century; however the remains of fortifications still visible today (the walkway and part of the walls) date back to the fifteenth century. On a wall of the castle there is a fresco of Saint Peter painted by the master of neo-mannerism Bruno D’Arcevia.
Palazzo is founded by Rocca Contrada in the mid-fourteenth century and is one of the most characteristic castles of Arcevia, built entirely of stone on a side of Monte Caudino. At the top of the hill is the church of Saints Stephen and Septimius, built in the early eighteenth century. The interior is in late Baroque style and retains some interesting works such as a canvas with San Giosafat, painted by master Francesco Mancini (1679-1750), and as the painting of the Venetian school that can be admired in the monumental high altar.
Along the provincial road towards Serra De’ Conti, you reach Montale. The village still retains the original medieval layout, which corresponds to the small and compact nucleus placed on top of the hill, enclosed by the tower of the walls made of bricks. Inside the church of San Silvestro is exposed on the high altar a canvas with San Silvestro Papa; in the first chapel on the right is the Immaculate Conception between Santa Lucia and Santa Caterina d’Alessandria, attributed to Giampaolo Ramazzani.
Built at the beginning of the fourteenth century, it still retains the original medieval layout and the walls of the early fifteenth century; access through a door with a round arch leads into the main street of the village, on which the houses in limestone overlook. The church of Santo Stefano preserves a seventeenth-century fresco with the Madonna of Loreto and Saints.
8-9 ore
Auto, Moto, Bicicletta, Mountain bike
70 km
easy
Nature & Sport
Art
Food
Sea
Cycling tourism
