Castrocaro Rocche and Castles on the Wine and Food Trail

The thermal town of Castrocaro hosts one of the most interesting examples of castles that are the result of a transformation of the first fortress dating back to around the 10th century in its embryonic phase, and created for defensive purposes in the area between the Byzantine and Lombard conquests.

 After a decade of restoration work that saved it from being neglected, the Castrocaro Fortress can now be visited. The structure, protected by walls and located on the steep hill that controls the spa town below, is an ‘assemblage’ of defensive structures from different eras. The local pro loco has secured it and provided it with furnishings that finally bring it back to life.

 Inside, a permanent exhibition (“Le Chiavi e il Giglio”) can be visited, recounting the handover in 1403 when the fortress was ceded to the Florentines and marking the beginning of a new historical phase of Tuscan ownership that lasted until 1923.

 The large ‘Medicean Arsenals’ built on one side of the fortress are astonishing: these are three vast rooms, the first open, the other two with large barrel vaults. On the back wall of the third one there is a large and scenic fireplace, and a basin for collecting drinking water.

  Inside the fortress, a tasting point has been set up with products from the Strada dei Vini e dei Sapori dei Colli di Forlì Cesena (Wine and Food Trail of the Forlì Cesena Hills), offering the opportunity to purchase and taste local products while admiring the panorama of Monte Falterona in the background.

Just one kilometre away from Castrocaro stands Terra del Sole, towards Forlì, which plays an important role in the history of the municipality: in fact, it represents its historical continuation. Terra del Sole celebrated the 450th anniversary of its foundation on 8 December 2014.

Here, on the grandiose and elegant Piazza d’Armi, the atmosphere is less noisy than in the nearby, bustling spa town. Although the two localities deserve an equal place in the municipality (the municipality is called “Castrocaro Terme e Terra del Sole”), it seems that historically there is bad blood between the two centres, as Terra del Sole was born with the precise aim of becoming a new defensive centre of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany from 1564 (the date of Terra del Sole’s foundation), in place of the old Castrocaro Fortress, militarily considered obsolete…

Actually, Terra del Sole was never used for offensive purposes and was destined for disarmament at the end of the 18th century.

It remains, however, one of the most admirable and accomplished examples of the ideal city realised by the architect Baldassarre Lanci, from Urbino, his son Marino, Buontalenti and the eclectic Girolamo Genga as his collaborators and successors at the request of Cosimo de’ Medici (the first Grand Duke of Tuscany), who gave concrete manifestation to the speculations regarding the concept of the ideal city developed by the greatest Italian architects, including the brilliant Leon Battista Alberti.  Within the perimeter of the walls (2 km. and 87 m.) is the symmetrical settlement comprising four blocks. Two boroughs, Roman and Florentine, cross it from gate to gate, following the decumanus, flanked by four smaller boroughs. Towards the two gateways there are two star-shaped castles. The centre, the meeting point of the two road axes, is represented by the vast Piazza d’Armi, overlooked by monumental buildings: the Church of S. Reparata, the Palazzo dei Commissari or Pretorio, that of the Provveditori, that of the Province (Cancelleria).