Things to do in Province of Macerata, Marche: The Best Castles

Castello Pallotta is located in Caldarola, a charming village in the heart of Le Marche region, in the province of Macerata. The castle was built in the ninth century and was restored at the end of the sixteenth century by the cardinal Evangelist Pallotta. He decided to transform the building into a majestic Renaissance residence.The ancient castle walls are still intact, as are its Guelph crenelations, battlements and drawbridge. The visit takes you through the historic building, where every ornament is placed in its original context with great attention to detail.

This fortified farmhouse was erected in the middle of the ninth century and it looked like a tower-house whose facilities served to shelter agricultural commodities. The Castle of La Rancia was enlarged in the fourteenth century by order of Rudolph II dof Varano and it was also used as a residence. The keep , about 25 meters high, is divided into six flooers connected by a spiral staircase. In the ealry fifteen century, Braccio da Montone, a distinguished leader from Perugia, arrived in the Marca to fight against Ludovico Migliorati, Lord of Fermo, and took up quarters in the castle. In the 1430s and 1440s Francesco Sforza, his wife and part of his army were accomomodated in the castle, where Niccolo Piccinio signs a peace treaty in 1442 in the service of the Pope. One of the most important dates to remember are 2 and 3 of May 1815 when all around the castle was the scene of a raging battle between the French army of Gioacchino Murat, king of Naples and Napoleon's brother-in-law, and the Austrian troops of General Federico Bianchi.

The medieval fortress of Urbisaglia was a military fortification erected by the town of Tolentino at the beginning of the 16th century. It has a trapezoidal shape with the longest side facing away from the town in order to better face potential attacks. There are four corner towers, a gate tower and a keep where the garrison Tolentino had imposed on Urbisaglia resided. Indeed, the fortress' main function, other than to control the surrounding areas, was to guard the town and to prevent any rebellious acts from the citizens of Urbisaglia, who resented Tolentino's power over them.