TORRE ALFINA CASTLE

HISTORY

“A castle was built at the head of the Alfina plain, eight miles from Orvieto; where there was only one tower built into a fortress; hence the Castle took its name from that Tower: where those of Meana, Monte Cuccione, Valcelle, and other places ruined around it, for past wars concurred “. Thus Monaldo Monaldeschi – lord of Orvieto-, tells of the birth of the castle of Torre Alfina, in his “Commentaries Historici”. The origin of this suggestive stronghold is narrated as if it were a legend. All we know is contained in a few, but exciting lines that tell us of a distant time, where wars went on relentlessly: county against county; countries divided by their rulers; battles of conquest that seem taken from an adventure film. Over the centuries the castle has known many inhabitants; from 1451, with the end of the feudal era, the manor finally returned to its legitimate owners: the Torrese community. The municipality of Torre Alfina was founded, now counted among the hundred most beautiful villages in Italy. But new sieges and new invasions would have made life very easy at the small castle, until the huge restoration wanted by the Lord Sforza Monaldeschi della Cervara, who from Orvieto chose to retire to the small town. The Castle became a sumptuous sixteenth-century palace, thanks to the work of the best Orvieto artisans: the Scalza as regards sculptures and architecture; Cesare Nebbia who took care of the frescoes. Unfortunately, towards the end of the seventeenth century, Torre Alfina began a slow decline, which saw its inhabitants decrease by a third. The small town became a hamlet and first relied on Orvieto, then permanently on Acquapendente. But it wasn’t over yet: during the 19th century the castle, now also in decline, found new splendor thanks to what was a real makeover by the architect Giuseppe Partini.

Later Rodolfo, son of the Marquis Edoardo Cahen, yet another owner of the castle, enriched the interior with unique pieces that he collected from all over the world. Of those valuable pieces, very little is left today: they were sold in 1969, during an exhausting auction that lasted for more than a week.

Even the Sasseto wood, which winds around the town, is rich in history: hiding places for brigands, paths that intertwine between lava boulders and centuries-old trees, make this place one of the most magical in Upper Tuscia. Finally, the mausoleum of the Marquis Cahen rises in a clearing in the wood, in memory of all the adventures that Torre Alfina and its castle have experienced, through centuries of destruction, but always finding the strength to rebuild from the ashes.

DESCRIPTION

The palace, built in the thirteenth century near the tower, the oldest part around which the castle developed, was the home of the lords of the moment. First the Risentii (13th century), whose coats of arms of the tombstones are still visible in the courtyard of the castle. The original fortress was fortified around the oldest tower with a second wall, consisting of bastions, the walls of the houses and equipped with several access doors. Two of these disappeared with the renovations of the Marquis Cahen, while Porta Vecchia is still present.

Part of the internal courtyard, a wing decorated with frescoes, and some furnishings and family crests, is what remains of the period from the end of the thirteenth century to the second half of the seventeenth century, a period in which the Monaldeschi of Orvieto, of the branch Cervara, particularly evident in the interventions carried out in the Renaissance-style reconstruction of the primitive medieval castle. By Sforza Cervara, former captain of fortune.

It was the owner Edoardo Cahen in the twentieth century who had the Monaldeschi palace restored by the architect Giuseppe Partini of Siena, in a neo-Gothic style, giving the characteristic appearance with the local travertine and basalt stone that still covers the entire castle today. . Today the property located in the town of Acquapendente, consisting of 55 rooms plus various Italian gardens is currently under confiscation. The crash suffered by its last owner Luciano Gaucci saw the property confiscated and put up for auction with auction for only 10.319 million euros.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

AA. VV., Acquapendente e il suo territorio. Regione Lazio, Assessorato alla Cultura, Spettacolo, Sport e Turismo. Direzione regionale cultura, sport e turismo, area valorizzazione del territorio e del patrimonio culturale. Avellino 2004.

Colonnelli E.; Torre Alfina e il suo Castello. in Acquapendente Notizie. settembre/otttobre 2010. Acquapendente 2010.

Nardini S., Acquapendente. Guida alla scoperta. Acquapendente 2008.

Pietro Paolo Biondi, Le Croniche di Acquapendente. Descrizione della terra d’Acquapendente con la sua antiquità, nobiltà, governo, usanze ed altre cose (ed. a stampa del manoscritto ddl 1588) Acquapendente 1984.

Rossi M., Cenni storici di Acquapendente. Viterbo 1989.