Civitella Ranieri Castle

Civitella Ranieri Castle

At Umbertide, in a panoramic position over the Assino valley, sits the castle of Civitella Ranieri. The Castle takes its name from the citadel that Umberto's son Raniero, brother of William, Duke of Monferrato, built there in 1078.

The facade of the complex is dominated by the two lateral cylindrical towers and is characterized, as well as other parts of the Castle, by slender brackets that enclose a walkway once used for patrols. Instead the square keep is in the northeastern side .
Behind the castle is the courtyard which is accessed through three doors on the back of the building.

The central door is embellished with a stair with a fan form and an arch of sandstone blocks. The buildings that overlook the other sides of the courtyard almost form a single body with the form as C and they are the result of successive additions, as well as the eighteenth-century church located on the corner the northwest. A park almost completely embraces the complex starting from the south side (where perhaps once there was another garden), until the larger area to the north in which there is a dense forest. The straight road that climbs the hill to the castle reaches the exterior surrounding wall the mighty entrance tower opened in an arch at its centre. From the arch there are two divergent paths that cross the simple garden-court of honor square, entirely surrounded by service buildings. Little remains of the ancient fortress of the eleventh century, only the entrance side of the outer wall. What you see today is in fact the Renaissance military structure, completely rebuilt in the 15th century. In 1492 the previous building had been destroyed during the struggles for suprenacy in the Perugia area between the Oddi and Baglioni families. Some changes were made in the following centuries, as the addition of the eighteenth-century church dedicated to St. Christopher, replacing the oldest front of the castle.

Explore the surroundings
Main attractions in the vicinity