Castle of Ronciglione "I Torrioni"

The Castle of Ronciglione has gone through five centuries of history. Today, keeping its light and strength intact, it offers a refined journey into the past with an elegant and relaxed welcome. Erected in the early Middle Ages by the Prefects of Vico to guard the only natural access to the city, in the following centuries it often changed ownership, destination and shape. It was the prerogative of the Counts of Anguillara, Della Rovere and Farnese from 1526 to 1649, under the ownership of the Della Rovere the Castle underwent major changes, in particular between 1475 and 1480 with the renovation commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV and entrusted to Florentine architect Giovanni Dolci who modified it by adding the circular keep and the four fortified towers at the corners, which also gave the castle its current popular name "I Torrioni". Most eminent personalities stayed here, including Pope Sixtus IV and Pope Paul III. In 1649 it became the property of the Holy See which ceded it in 1756 to the Genoese Girolamo Marè, who committed himself to its conservation and embellishment.