Top 3 Castles in Prato

The Emperor's Castle (also known as the Fortress of Santa Barbara or Swabian Castle) is located in the historic center of Prato, in Piazza Santa Maria delle Carceri. It is the only example of Swabian (Frederickian) architecture in central-northern Italy, built between 1237 and 1248 by the architect Riccardo da Lentini at the behest of Emperor Frederick II of Swabia. The fortress served to guard the communication routes between Germany and southern Italy. Structure and Architecture: Square plan: the sides measure approximately 40 meters, with walls two and a half meters thick made of alberese stone. Eight towers: four main towers at the corners corresponding to the cardinal points and four central towers. Guelph battlements: the walls are decorated with classic swallowtail battlements. [1] Bichrome portal: the main entrance combines Gothic style with Romanesque-Tuscan elements, characterized by alternating bands of white and green marble and protected by two lions

La Rocca di Cerbaia, or simply Rocca Cerbaia, dominates the summit of a rocky spur nearly four hundred meters high, sheer above the Bisenzio river valley. For centuries, the fortified structure has battled the forces of nature, which first caused its abandonment, then its ruin. Its origin, at least in the form we see it today, appears to date back to the early 1100s, when the Alberti family erected a fortress on the site to control the ancient road known as the "Via di Lombardia," a link between Tuscany and the regions beyond the Apennines. Despite its military functions, the fortress was also used by the Alberti family as a residence for a long period, a fact confirmed by the high-quality finishes still visible inside the keep. Legend, almost certainly unfounded, has it that in 1285 the Alberti family refused a request for hospitality at the Rocca made by the Poet Dante Alighieri while traveling to Bologna. The great poet himself made famous one of the descendants of the family that owned the fortress, Cunizza Alberti, a protagonist of a lively romantic life in his "Divine Comedy" (Paradiso IX, 13-36). In 1361, the fortress was sold to the Florentines who, given its important strategic position, established a permanent military garrison there and strengthened its defenses by building a second ring of walls and other buildings. La Rocca di Cerbaia has the classic appearance of medieval ring castles: a mighty keep dominates the center of the two surrounding, roughly pentagonal, walled enclosures. The construction was carried out in sandstone, of which the area is rich. Large portions of the first outer ring wall are still recognizable, with the entrance gate set into the southern curtain. Beyond this gate, on the left, are the remains of a building called 'Palazzo Nuovo,' and on the right, what remains of the cistern with a barrel vault roof, all constructions dating back to the first half of the 1300s. Outside this first enclosure, we find the ruins of the Church of S. Martino, a single nave.

The Rocca or Castle of Carmignano has dominated the village from above for over a thousand years: the bastion was in fact mentioned for the first time in the year 998, in a document by Otto III of Saxony which granted ownership to the bishop of Pistoia. The Rocca was the object of continuous battles between Pistoia, Florence and Prato, due to its strategic position in the political-military context of the Middle Ages: from up here, in fact, you can admire the entire plain between the three cities. After having resisted, in 1154, a siege conducted by troops from Prato and Florence, the castle was destroyed for the first time in 1228 by the Florentines. Having regained possession of Pistoia in 1242, the fortification was rebuilt and in the early fourteenth century sold again to Florence, which proceeded to demolish the fortress and the castle walls once again. After a new parenthesis in Pistoia (1315-1324) the castle returned to Florentine hands, only to be besieged and conquered by Castruccio Castracani, who made it his own stronghold until 1328, when it finally returned to Florence. The Rocca di Carmignano can be accessed via a pedestrian path (starting from the church of San Michele, where Pontormo's famous Visitation is kept) that climbs the hill full of olive trees, where you can enjoy a beautiful view of Montalbano. Few remains of the medieval walls around the Rocca remain, partly rebuilt as the Campano, with the bell tower and clock, while in the center stands a medieval tower, called the Maschio della Rocca. (www.visittuscany.com)

Beautiful panorama of Monte Ferrato and the entire Prato plain. On clear days you can see the dome of the Florence Cathedral very well.

La Rocca above The village of Carmignano is worth a visit and not just for the view. From this fortress there were two arms that the Pistoiesi had placed and that "made the figs" towards Florence. For more information, consult the Divine Comedy.

The Emperor's castle is located in Prato in Piazza delle Carceri. It is an example of Frederick architecture, built by order of Emperor Frederick II of Swabia, in the context of the struggle for dominance in Tuscany between the empire and the papacy which characterized the decades between the 1200s. Source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_dell'Imperatore

It is the Roccadi Carmignano

easy excursion on foot