Castello di Montefiore

Massive and imposing, the Castello di Montefiore towers over the Conca valley. A 14th-century Rocca Malatestiana, it has a square plan with few, small windows overlooking the hill village of Montefiore Conca. Standing at 385 m above sea level, this Rocca was built as a defensive stronghold and only later became a residence, mainly used for stopovers, reserved for meetings with politicians and leading figures of the Renaissance period (the King of Hungary in 1347, Pope Gregory XII). The striking entrance gate is preceded by a steep stone stairway with a view over the Valconca.

Good to know

• The village is surrounded by walls, punctuated by towers, at the foot of which runs the "Passeggiata della duchessa Costanza", a walk that follows the defensive perimeter.
• On the ground floor, part of the finds recovered in the castle can be viewed; on the first floor there are several rooms, one with a cross vault displaying the remains of 14th-century frescoes attributed to Jacopo Avanzi.
• The history of the Castello di Montefiore Conca is closely bound up with that of Costanza, daughter of Malatesta Ungaro and wife of Marquis Ugo Este. Widowed while still very young, she began living a dissolute life, behaviour that led her uncle to hire an assassin to kill her, one night in October 1368. Legend has it that the ghost of the young countess has haunted the castle walls ever since.
• The Rocca is home to the Museo di Maioliche.

Photo credits- Photo Emilia Romagna - Open Data Monuments - larabraga19