Castello delle Rocchette

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Category: Edifici storici

Ancient castle that still stands well preserved on a high hill, mentioned for the first time in a document from 1295 as belonging to the heirs of Zurcio Gottofredi. In 1339 it was restored by the noble Antonio di Mariano of Castelvecchio. In other documents of 1400 it is mentioned as Rocca d'Angiolo of Mattiolo. Inside the castle, the church of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception has an interesting cycle of frescoes of the 16th century, including one depicting the Madonna del Soccorso, it is a highly original iconography of the Virgin represented while protecting the child from the devil with a stick. The village is now private property.

Castello di Gagliole

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Category: Edifici storici

On top of Torraccio in the Middle Age stood the Gagliole castle; allegedly built by a certain Galliolo that would build in 1035 naming it after himself. More likely the castle's name comes from the word Lombard gahagi = fence, and perhaps it was built between the seventh and eighth centuries as a defensive outpost of the Lombard Duchy of Spoleto. In 1290 it was owned by Massa nobles Raniero and Galgano Bonaccorsi and 14 families lived there.

Impregnable Guelph stronghold, it was repeatedly attacked in vain by the Ghibellines of Todi until 1307, when it was purchased by the town of Todi, destroyed and razed to the ground. Today, only a few ruins of the castle of Gagliole remain, choked by vegetation. It had in its appurtenances the churches of San Bartolomeo and San Giacomo. The latter, documented since the thirteenth century, was at the foot of the hill where the castle stood, along the ancient route of the Via Flaminia. Perfectly preserved until the middle of this century, it's now reduced to a pile of rubble because on several occasions it was used as a stone quarry.

Mulino di Santa Maria

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Category: Edifici storici

On the left of Highway exit Massa Martana are clearly visible the remains of an old mill, which formerly belonged to the abbey of Santa Maria in Pantano, set on a substructure of the Roman era, belonging to the Via Flaminia, perhaps the remains of a bridge, now destroyed, that crossed the stream Naia.

Rocca di Bonaccorso

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Category: Edifici storici

It is believed that the Rocca di Bonaccorso was erected towards the end of the year 1000 by the founder of the noble Massetana family of Bonaccorsi-Fonzi. It stood on the hill in front of the homonymous spring, and was most likely a fort used to control the roads that converged to the important mountain pass of Water Channel. This is confirmed by a document from 1397 in which Pope Boniface IX granted to the noble of Massa Lello Bonaccorsi the power to levy tolls and duties of all those who passed through the area.