The castle is situated in the highest part of the medieval village of Grottammare, where its oldest settlement was established. There are documentary records of the latter dating back to the 11th century, but it is likely that its origins lie in an earlier period, as a possession of the Abbey of San Martino in Farfa.<\/p>\n\n
Sources indicate that the walls were rebuilt in the 13th century, perhaps in connection with the town\u2019s return to the control of Fermo, as decreed by Pope Innocent IV in 1248, once its subjugation to Emperor Frederick II had come to an end. In the first half of the 15th century, like most of the castles in the Marche region, it fell into the hands of Francesco Sforza, the future Duke of Milan: one of his many illegitimate sons (Sforza Secondo<\/a><\/strong>) was born here, and his wife, Bianca Maria Visconti, stayed there.<\/p>\n\n The last documented building work dates back to the mid-17th century, when, during a conflict between the Barberini and Farnese families (known as the \u2018First War of Castro\u2019), Pope Urban VIII ordered the castle to be fortified and a new supply of cannons to be procured in order to repel any Venetian attacks, having chosen Grottammare as a stronghold for the south-eastern papal coast.<\/p>\n\n For a long time, given the importance of the port below, the fortress was fitted at its highest point with a tower that served as a lighthouse; it was cylindrical in shape and comprised three storeys. This lighthouse tower was partially demolished in 1766 because it was in a state of disrepair, and was completely demolished in the early 19th century.<\/p>\n\n Today, the ruins of the castle feature a base consisting of brick retaining walls arranged in a curved pattern. Rising from this base are the remains of a tower and a perimeter wall, which still retain their corbels and two artillery embrasures. A short distance away stands another tower with the remains of corbels, set on a sloping plinth. The ruins are set against a very picturesque backdrop, both for the view they offer and for the lush vegetation, dominated by Aleppo pines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6554,"template":"","tipologia-luoghi":[113],"class_list":["post-6553","luoghi","type-luoghi","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tipologia-luoghi-historic-buildings"],"bee_custom_fields":{"intro":"","address":"","stelle":"","gallery":[],"immagine_in_evidenza":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Castello.jpg","fisso":"","mobile":"","fax":"","latitudine":"","longitudine":"","sitoweb":"","email":"","facebook":"","instagram":"","youtube":"","orari":"","audioguida":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/luoghi\/6553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/luoghi"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/luoghi"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tipologia-luoghi","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipologia-luoghi?post=6553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}