Rocca Sinibalda Castle (Italy)

The Castle was born as a military fortress, around the middle of the 11th century, in a strategic position overlooking the Turano valley. It owes its name to Sinibaldo, count and rector of Sabina between 1058 and 1065. In the following centuries it belonged to the Benedictine monks of Farfa and, with the dilapidation of the assets of the Abbey, between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it entered the fiefdoms of 2 families then disappeared - the Buzzi and the Brancaleone di Romancia.

During the pontificate of Clement VII Medici (1523-1534), the Castle was assigned to the Cesarini family, with the obligation to provide for its maintenance and the strengthening of its strategic role on the border between the Papal State and the Kingdom of Naples.
After the Sack of Rome in 1527, Alessandro Cesarini reinforced the Castle, with the aim, however, of making the old medieval fortress also a Renaissance-style place, suitable for parties and events. He therefore commissioned Baldassarre Peruzzi, architect of the Fabbrica di San Pietro from 1530, to overcome the distinction between villa and fortress, combining the military function with that of a noble palace.

The drawings for the renovation of the old plant, preserved in the Uffizi in Florence, highlight the innovative architectural project, whose works - however - were not completed by Peruzzi, who died prematurely in 1536, and underwent several adaptations during construction. .
The Castle has a spur front body with crenellated towers, while the north wing includes the noble residence and a splendid Coda with a defensive function. The hanging gardens, redesigned by lppolito Pizzetti in 1972, also deserve a mention.

The decoration of the interior walls of the palace, inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses with grafts of narratives related to the history of the Cesarini family, was carried out by different hands and in different styles. Among the various we remember Girolamo Muziano and the schools of Roman and Umbrian-Tuscan Mannerism.
The Castle, in the following centuries, passed in ownership numerous times.