Top 7 Castles around Pietralunga

Piobbico is a beautiful town in the province of Pesaro Urbino with about 1800 inhabitants. It is located in a valley between Monte Nerone and Monte Montiego and stands right at the confluence of two rivers: the Biscubio and the Candigliano. Piobbico is also known as the Land of the Ugly, due to the National Association of the Ugly, founded at the end of the 19th century to allow young women from Piobbico to find a husband; it currently has about 30,000 members and every year, on the first Sunday of September, the World Festival of the Ugly takes place. The festival is famous throughout central Italy and attracts a very large number of people each year.

The ruins of the Mondelacasa Castle (or Monte della Casa), called the Muracci, are located on the northern slopes of Mount Nerone, on the left bank of Val d'Abisso, at 707 m above sea level, about 1 km south of the historic center of Piobbico. (from COMUNE PIOBBICO 1999): Close to Mount Nerone stands a massive buttress whose base widens between the Biscubio torrent and the Petrello stream (Fosso di S. Maria) and carries the ruins of an ancient artifact on the summit. It was a castle, a primitive dwelling that the Brancaleoni, who arrived around the year 1000 in the Biscubio District, built and lived in until the mid-1300s. This is how our Costanzo Felici (1) describes it in a document from 1582:... climbing up to Monte Nerone a mile away on a rough and terrible hill and rock, there are vestiges of a superb, large and beautiful palace or fortress now in ruins, of which those (Brancaleoni) of Piobico were the owners. Built by Gentile Brancaleoni in the first half of the 13th century, it took the name of Mons Casa or Mondelacasa, today Muracci because of the ruins visible on the summit. Towards the middle of the 14th century, both because of the harshness of the place, difficult to reach when ... winter almost buried the tower under the snow, locked it under the grip of the ice, tormented it with the blizzard, confining it for months in isolation, and because of the need for other and more comfortable comforts, the two brothers Pazzo and Federico Brancaleoni decided to settle in the house that they had begun to build "in castro Plobici", on the hill to the right of the confluence of the Biscubio with the Candigliano, where there were already small houses piled up, that is, equipped with a watchtower with a Gothic arch portal to the north and a castle to the south-east. It is the place where the Brancaleoni Castle-Palazzo will develop and take shape over time. NOTE: (1) Costanzo Felici was born in the second decade of the 16th century in Casteldurante (now Urbania). However, he preferred to define himself as a native of Piobbico, where his ancestors had moved around 1330. He practiced medicine in Piobbico, Sant'Angelo in Vado, Pesaro, Rimini and Urbania. At the same time, he cultivated naturalistic and historical studies with notable results. He died in Pesaro on February 5, 1585. taken from: https://www.lavalledelmetauro.it/contenuti/beni-storici-artistici/scheda/11123.html

The Aries fortress, near Montone, has very ancient origins, it was built by the Fortebracci family on the remains of an ancient fortress to defend the primitive population. There is news of it since the year one thousand, but it is from 1376 that the fortress begins to intertwine its history with the Fortebracci family. In that year Oddo III, father of the famous Braccio, conquered it, bringing it back under the hegemony of the nearby Città di Castello.

Umbertide is located in a green valley bathed by the Tiber.

The history of Piobbico is connected to the history of the Brancaleoni count family, which dominated these districts for seven centuries, in fact the Brancaleoni Castle developed in successive periods, from 1200 to 1700. Its construction began as a fortress and then assumed, over the years, the appearance and grace of a Renaissance palace, full of frescoes, stuccos, fireplaces, writings in Latin, Greek and vernacular, dates and names, which allowed to reconstruct the architectural history of this large container (135 rooms). Going up the medieval village you arrive at the square where the clock tower stands. The tower rests on a pointed arch vault dating back to the 1200s, therefore prior to the construction of the first nucleus of the building, evidence of an old watchtower. Towards the end of the 16th century, a tower was erected above the vault on which two clocks were placed, one on the facade facing the town and one on the facade facing the San Carlo courtyard. On the entrance facade, next to the tower, you can admire an elegant loggia which, together with the balustrade, make the facade less massive, giving the whole complex a refinement that is more suited to a Palace than a Castle. In fact, this immense building (135 rooms) has developed over the centuries, through a series of interventions, expansions, until reaching the current structure in which the Renaissance features prevail, but also presents evident defensive and military security elements typical of the late Middle Ages.

Umbertide is located in the upper Tiber valley and is crossed by the Tiber itself and the Reggia stream. The entrance to the historic center is dominated by the mighty Rocca di Umbertide, a fortress dating back to 1389, which has always been a symbol of the city. The historic center of Umbertide is still surrounded by medieval walls in the stretches that line the waterways.

Ruin in a panoramic position on the northern side of Monte Nerone

UMBERTIDE is located in the upper valley of the Tiber and is crossed by the Tiber itself and the Reggia stream. We get there starting by bike from TUORO SUL TRASIMENO, immediately facing a climb that leaves the TRASIMENO lake behind us. The heat is torrid and the climb that takes us to VALICO GOSPARINI should be tackled immediately in order to leave the second part of the route, less difficult, at the hottest hours. Outside the walls of the village I see a historic building, almost hidden, I have to go back with the bike and cross the tracks. It is the Umbertide city museum housed inside the deconsecrated church of Santa Croce, a beautiful 13th-century structure. I later discover that the museum contains precious artistic works dating back to the 16th century. Among these stand out above all the Madonna and Child by Pomarancio (1577), the valuable wooden sculpture by Romano Alberti (1528) and the Deposition of the Cross by Luca Signorelli (1516), enclosed in a richly carved altarpiece. I resume pedaling and I realize that Umbertide has a characteristic historic center still surrounded by medieval walls and some stretches line streams. The bike allows us only a short visit and a few photos, but the beautiful sun and the market are an invitation to visit it calmly walking through its ancient streets, an invitation that we cannot accept! At the entrance to the town center we find the Rocca di Umbertide, a mighty fortress dating back to 1389 and a few meters away the unmistakable Church of Santa Maria della Reggia! In fact, the sixteenth-century church stands out for its octagonal shape, quite unusual for a Catholic religious building. The town is part of that incredible Apennine belt between Tuscany and Lazio where beautiful towns such as Spello, Gubbio, Foligno nestle, as well as of course the most renowned and prestigious Perugia and Assisi. If you pass this part, do not hesitate to visit it, without haste!