Castello di Roccacolonnalta

Roccacolonnalta stands on a hill above the Fiastrella valley south of San Ginesio. A massive surviving tower marks the remains of the fortress, once a stronghold of the Brunforte lords and an important point on the mountain approaches of the Marche.

Why it matters

The castle belonged to the Signori di Brunforte, whose lands lay between the expanding commune of San Ginesio and the lords of Sarnano and Camerino. In 1260, the Castello di Colonnalta was donated to San Ginesio in recognition of the town's loyalty to the Holy See. The sale was concluded on 3 September 1330, a document preserved in the town archive.

What to notice

The surviving torrione rises above the hamlet and overlooks the route through the Valle di Pieca, which connected the coast with the Apennine passes. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century descriptions record the fortress's thick walls, projecting half-columns and a heavily built gate with a drawbridge. The nearby church of Sant'Andrea, documented around 1300 and ruined by the mid-nineteenth century, once stood on a separate hill.

Context and history

After the 1330 sale, the fortress remained strategically important. It passed through the orbit of the Varano lords of Camerino and, briefly, Francesco Sforza between 1433 and 1443, before returning to San Ginesio. In 1487 Pope Innocent VIII authorised funds for repairs to the fortress. Its decline accelerated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, amid disputes over grazing and woodland rights. In 1664 the commune authorised the use of stone from the fortress to rebuild the church of Santa Maria di Pieca. The remains were privately acquired in 2002 and conservation work followed from 2005.