Bufalini Castle - San Giustino
An extraordinary example of a historic stately home in Umbria
Bufalini Castle emerges in the town of San Giustino (Perugia) and is an admirable example of a stately historic home. Used as a museum after its acquisition by the state in 1988, it is surrounded by an elegant Italian garden with rare rose specimens. The structure began as a private fortress of a Ghibelline family of San Sepolcro and after the Battle of Anghiari (1440) became a military outpost of Città di Castello, soon destroyed by order of the Florentine Republic. It passed into the ownership of Niccolò di Manno Bufalini in 1487, and reconstruction work was undertaken to the design of the Roman architect Mariano Savelli and on the instructions of Giovanni and Camillo Vitelli, men-at-arms and experts in military architecture. It took on the appearance of a fortress, with an irregular square plan and four towers at the corners, one of which was larger, the main tower; a large moat with water surrounded it. The building's history is inextricably linked to that of the Bufalini family, which boasted established figures in ecclesiastical, literary and legal circles. Starting in the 1630s, the fortress was transformed into a noble residence responding to precise artistic, social and cultural needs, according to the wishes of Julius I and his brother, Abbot Ventura Bufalini. Although it was the interior that underwent the most changes, with the creation of large rooms distributed around a courtyard with two porticoed sides, the insertion of the loggia in the facade and the monumental entrance in a central position date from that period. From the outside, the original military structure of the building remained clearly visible. The design of the palace was the work of the Florentine architect of the Sangallo circle Giovanni di Alesso, known as Nanni Unghero, but the work was completed with the intervention of Vignola around 1560.
During the last decade of the 17th century and the first years of the 18th, the palace was renovated according to the design of the architect-painter from tifernate Giovanni Ventura Borghesi, as a pleasant country villa with an Italian garden. The building was enriched in the 18th century with valuable works of art of late Baroque taste, including pictorial and decorative cycles on fresco and canvas, also aimed at celebrating the Bufalini who had become marquises. In July 1989 Castello Bufalini was acquired by the state property, a rare example of an almost intact historic stately home, preserving much of its furnishings formed from the 16th to the 19th century with a collection of paintings from the Bufalini palace in Città di Castello. Currently the entire complex is set up, paintings, furniture, tapestries, majolica and various busts from the Roman period, according to the taste of the noble residence. On the tour you can admire: the Hall of the Pagan Gods and Hall of Prometheus with frescoes by Cristofano Gherardi; the Loggia; the Credenza Room, with showcases that hold precious ceramic tableware and glassware; the Dining Room; the Drawing Room: the Throne Room with canvases depicting scenes from the Old Testament and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso; the Portrait Gallery; the Stucco Room; and the Cardinal Giovanni Ottavio Bufalini Room, with its beautiful cradle. The Italian Garden today presents itself in the form desired in the 18th century: the rose garden, the vegetable gallery known as the voltabotte, the so-called "paradise" and the labyrinth stand out for particular beauty. INFORMATION Address Via Largo Cruciani 06016 - San Giustino (PG) Opening Hours. Friday, Saturday and Sunday holidays: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3:30-6:30 p.m. Contact 075-856115 drm-umb.castellobufalini@cultura.gov.it Social castellobufalini (instagram) Bufalini Castle (Facebook)