NORCIA


 

SURROUNDING WALLS

Cerchia Muraria The walls surrounding Norcia enclose the entire city for a length of about 2 Km, featuring Cerchia Muraria eight gates and 17 towers (out of the original 20). This constuction dates from 2000 years ago, but the present day structures are fruit of rebuilding in the 13th century, and later modifications in the 1700s and 1800s. The walls have slits, buttresses, ancient fragments and more recent parts; after 1979 they underwent further maintenance interventions.

CASTELLINA

Castellina The Fort closes the west side of central square of Norcia. It was a fortified residence built between 1554 and 1564 on the plans of Vignola, who knocked down the ancient Pieve di S. Maria Argentea and the Palazzo del Podestà to make room for the new construction. The building, on a square plan, is closed by four corner slitted ramparts on the escarpments; windows are positioned above a cordon that stretches across each side. The door to the square has light ashlar work and is flanked by two modern day lions. On the inside there is a porticoed courtyard with twelve arches; under these arches are doors from the 1600s that once led to the prison, armory, and the offices of the police. A wide staircase leads to the “piano nobile”, the residence of the Prefect di Montagna, now home to Civico-Diocesano Museum.

CASTELFRANCO CASTLE

Castelfranco (Fraz. Ancarano loc. Capodelcolle) This fortress was built in 1370, to protect the Nursino territory after the destruction of the Ancarano castle. In 1438 it was occupied by F. Sforza and in 1452 was attacked by Nursino outlaws. The ruins of the castle include a 14th century gate topped with a high tower having two overlapping fornix. In defence of the gate there is also a polygonal reinforcement with slits, the only existing example in the area. The walls come together at the gate to enclose the ruins of the fortress. The church is perched on the same rocky precipice as the castle. It has a stone facade with a decorated entrance and inside the remains of frescoes are visible on a pillar.

CAMPI CASTLE

A castle on a slope, with a summit and base, surrounded by walls that are still recognizable for the most part, and by bastions, only one of which remains on the eastern side. The castle is laid out on a series of concentric terraced levels, delimited by paths which are regrouped by short radial ramps. The only known entrance gates to the castle were both on the same level: an east facing one, and another, now destroyed, facing north towards the Madonna del condotto. Even in consideration of the damages caused by earthquakes and the passage of time, the characteristics of the constructions still indicate the importance of the Campi Castle. Already in 1502 it had a Monte di Pietà and two cenobies (the convent of the Minor Franciscans near the vanished church of the Madonna del Sole, suppressed in the 17th century; the Benedictine monastery of S. Orso built in 1639 and suppressed in the time of Napoleon). One enters the fortress by means of a 14th century gate that forms a single complex with the church of S. Andrea. The front is formed out of the arch at the base of a hanging 16th century loggia, so that the stucture could be adapted to orography, and other ingenious and pratical solutions to the social and religious life of the castle.

 

 

 

 

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Revised -- 16/08/2007
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