ANCIENT DREAM - HAMLET

→ Marche → Urbino → Gradara

Gradara

Suggested length
of stay: half a day

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The hamlet of the Gradara castle is perched on the crest of a hill on the border between Marche and Romagna, overlooking the crown of the stark Carpegna and Montefeltro chain of mountains south-west, and the Adriatic Sea north-east.
The fortress offers its visitors a very evocative view. The outside appears in all its grandeur, its stout surrounding walls and its bastions dwarfed by the renowned imposing massive fortress. Once inside, straight after crossing the drawbridge, visitors can immediately breathe the medieval atmosphere of its elegant courtyard and the austere and charming rooms of the palace which call to mind the glory of ancient medieval courts.
The origins of these lands are ascribed to Roman populations who established one of the many pagus (villages) in the Pesaro countryside. With the advent of Christianity, the construction of a church dedicated to Saint Sofia and the rectorial parish dedicated to S.Giovanni Battista became necessary as a token of the high degree of expansion achieved by the ancient settlement before the year 1000.
The Grifo family started to settle in the Gradara territories around 1150. To affirm their right of property, on the mighty ruins of a monumental Roman tomb dedicated to Dimitri, they erected a massive quadrangular tower embellished by shallow-tailed merlons. The settlement was called Castrum Cretarie and thanks to Piero and Rodolfo De Grifo, it began a process of independence from the Pesaro administration.
Straddling the XII and XIII centuries, Gradara was repeatedly contended for by a number of signorotti, squires who claimed its possession, until the Guelph, Giovanni Malatesta da Verrucchio, supported by the papacy, stood out over the other rivals and became the progenitor of the powerful family from Rimini. The latter dominated Gradara for a long time; under its rule extension works were carried out to turn the tower into a fortress surrounded by walls equipped with drawbridges.
The Malatestian rule over Gradara terminated in 1463 when Federico da Montefeltro, in command of the papal troops, managed to conquer the castle. The Pope entrusted Gradara as a curacy to Alessandro Sforza, squire of Pesaro, a loyal Church ally. The domination of the Sforza family changed the look of the fortress, giving it a typical Renaissance image; it was embellished with an imposing staircase, an open portico, Andrea Della Robbia’s altar-piece and frescoed rooms, including Lucrezia Borgia’s quarters, which she occupied during her three-year stay. Only a fourteen-year-old girl, Lucrezia, Giovanni Sforza’s second wife, underwent the strong influence of her father, the frightful Pope Alessandro VI Borgia, who compelled her to leave her first husband and marry Giovanni Sforza for his own shady plans. According to the legend, the husbands unwilling to leave Lucrezia were poisoned; however, Giovanni Sforza was spared this fate, since he agreed to sign a document in which he falsely admitted his impotence. In 1497, according to Pope Borgia’s desires, and with the excuse of Sforza’s impotence, the marriage was dissolved, the signoria declared decayed and Lucrezia’s brother, Cesare Borgia, called the Valentino, was proclaimed the new signore. In 1503, with Alessandro VI’s death, the papacy ceased to support the Borgias and Giovanni Sforza, who in the meanwhile had sought refuge in Mantua, was able to regain possession of Gradara.
The premature death of young Costanzo II, Giovanni Sforza’s only heir, born from a later marriage, obliged Pope Giulio II Della Rovere, on 20th February 1513, to hand over the signoria to his nephew, Francesco Maria I Della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. Thus, for over a century, the Della Rovere family tied their name to the fortress, an important strategic point overlooking the Adriatic Sea.
In the castle, there followed in succession Francesco Maria I, Guidobaldo, and Francesco Maria II. In 1543, to please his niece Vittoria Farnese, wife of Guidobaldo, Pope Paolo III was hosted within its walls. He was welcomed with all honours, and as a token for such an important visit Andrea della Robbia created the outstanding terracotta portraying the Madonna col Bambino e i Santi, still kept to date in the stunning chapel inside the fortress.
The Della Rovere were extinct by 1631, with the death of Livia Farnese, widow of Francesco Maria II, and the dukedom of Urbino was annexed to the Papal State.
Gradara witnessed long years of immobility and slow-paced life under the alert presence of papal ambassadors.
In the middle of the XVIII century, the Austrian succession war occurred. Although it only partially interested Gradara, the hamlet suffered greatly from the devastation and plundering carried out in 1797 by Napoleonic troops. The land became then part of the Cisalpine Republic, only to return to the Papal State after Napoleon’s fall.
After almost three centuries of neglect and dereliction, in 1920, thanks to the important intervention of engineer Umberto Zanvettori, the fortress was recovered and brought back to its original splendour. Under the Malatestian rule, the walls of the castello di Gradara witnessed the love and tragedy of two young lovers, who were savagely killed. Giovanni Malatesta, called Giangiotto, described as the ugly and crippled first-born of Sigismondo I and squire of Gradara, in 1275 married Francesca da Polenta, daughter of Guido, squire of the Guelph’s side of Ravenna.
Giangiotto was podestà in Pesaro and, since due to a law enforced at the time he could not take his family with him on his travels, he had to leave Francesca and their daughter, Concordia, back at the castello.

Love, that on gentle heart swiftly seize,
Seized this man for the person beautiful
That was ta’ en from me, and still the mode offends me.
Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,
Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,
That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me;
(Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia, Inferno - V Canto)

Francesca, a “woman of particular grace, and infinite beauty”, often left alone because of her husband’s extended absences must have appreciated the visits paid to her by Giangiotto’s brother, Paolo. Until one day, the two young people chanced upon a reading which was to mark their fate, the story of Launcelot and Guinevere. The twosome, carried away by the passion of the two literary lovers, were incapable of holding back their own.

Kissed me upon my mouth all palpitating.
A Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it:
That day no farther did we read therein.
(Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia, Inferno - V Canto)

But Giangiotto found out, perhaps from his brother, Malatestino, and after feigning his departure, surprised the two lovers and ran them through with his sword.

Monuments

Inside the borgo...
La Rocca
Communication trenches
Pinacoteca Comunale
Museo storico
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista