The Castle of Petroia is a castle near Gubbio in Umbria, Italy.

History
Erection of a fort at the site first began in the 9th and 10th centuries, by the commune of Gubbio. A document from 1073 recalls a substantial fortification at the site, referring to a deed of gift of a "mansum in curte Petroij". In 1257 a few feudal subordinates rose against Gubbio and submitted their castles to the town of Perugia. On 7 May 1257 Ugolino, count of Coccorano submitted the Castle of Petroia. On 24 March 1384 count Antonio da Montefeltro submitted to Gubbio and became lord of the city. Gubbio ends its existence as a free town, and was annexed to the Duchy of Urbino. On 7 June 1422, the very young Elisabetta degli Accomandugi, daughter of Guidopaolo and niece of Matteo, gave birth to Federico, who later on became Duke of Urbino. Elisabetta, lady companion of Rengarda, Duchesse of Urbino, had her son from an adulterous relation with Rengarda's husband, Guidobaldo da Montefeltro. Other dates in the history:

5 September 1396 the Count Galasso da Montefeltro bought Castle and lands of Petroia.
14 April 1414 Matteo degli Accomandugi di Urbino purchased Petroia
7 June 1422, the very young Elisabetta degli Accomandugi, gave birth to Federico da Montefeltro, who later on became Duke of Urbino.
In 1458 the freehold estate was inherited from Elisabetta, and the feudal titles were given to Ugolino dei Bardi until the 3red generation.
In 1487 Guidobaldo da Montefeltro gave the castle and its land to Alessandro Reggeri of Canossa. The property stayed with this family 4 generations (after Alessandro, the son Bonifacio, the grandson Orazio, and the great grandson Camilla).
In 1617 Camilla di Canossa, who did not have children, willed the property it to the Monte di Pietà of Reggio Emilia (a charity institution).
8 of May 1629 the Monte di Pietà sold to the Ugolini family of Gubbio; the price was 6,200 scudi.
From 1823 Castle and land belonged to Benvenduti family of Gubbio.
In 1909 (the Good Friday) the Castle and all of its land were bought by David Sagrini. As of 2015, the family manages the Castle as a hotel.

Castello di Petroia

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Il castello di Murlo è un insediamento fortificato sito a nord di Perugia a metà strada tra Antognolla e Migiana di Monte Tezio.
Il complesso costituisce l'evoluzione di un antico castello medievale, sorto su un precedente sito di epoca romana, del quale oggi rimane solo il mastio quadrato, dell'XI secolo, ed alcuni tratti delle spesse mura di cinta.

Antichi manoscritti [1], come anche la tradizione orale, riferiscono che “si trovavano frequentemente nei contorni di Murlo avanzi d'antichità dai quali si può congetturare che ivi fosse nei più remoti tempi qualche luogo considerabile”. Altra fonte manoscritta riporta il ritrovamento in Murlo da parte dei conti Oddi di una lapide con un'antichissima iscrizione in latino, che fu donata dalla famiglia Oddi al Monastero di San Pietro di Perugia per collocarla nel portico dello stesso tra le altre antiche iscrizioni.

L'antichità dell'insediamento trova altresì conferma nella presenza, nelle vicinanze di Murlo, sulla cima del Monte Elceto di Murlo (m. 620), dei resti di una fortificazione montana di epoca protostorica, facente parte - insieme all'insediamento sul Monte Civitelle ed a quello sul Monte Acuto – di una rete di “castellieri” protostorici aventi funzioni di guardiania e di controllo dei sottostanti fondi vallivi e stradali.

Nel 1087 il castello viene menzionato in una pergamena dell'abbazia di Santa Maria di Valdiponte, riportante, tra i testimoni di un atto di enfiteusi, un tal «Johannis de castro Murli». In seguito l'insediamento dovette perdere per qualche tempo importanza ed essere parzialmente abbandonato poiché nelle fonti successive i focolari di Murlo risultano sempre censiti insieme a quelli del vicino villaggio rurale di Somonte (villa Somontis), sviluppatosi intorno alla chiesa parrocchiale di San Savino, “a poche centinaia di metri dal castello di Murlo”.

Il castello compare nella carta di Ignazio Danti del 1577, affrescata nella Galleria delle Carte Geografiche del Vaticano.

Nel 1580 Murlo viene attaccato ed occupato dal condottiero Alfonso Piccolomini, conte di Montemarciano.

Dal XIV al XVIII secolo fu feudo della famiglia Oddi di Perugia. Sforza Oddi, celebre giureconsulto del XVI secolo, è vissuto a Murlo per lungo tempo e vi ha composto i suoi insigni trattati De Juramento e De Restitutione in Integrum, confessando egli stesso che se queste opere sono di qualche utile agli studiosi della legge e di qualche onore alla patria se ne deve tutto il merito alla solitudine della sua villa di Murlo e non allo strepitio della Città o dei Ginnasi.

Successivamente il complesso e la vastissima tenuta sono passati ai de Fonseca Pimentel ed ai Carabba Tettamanti Radziwill.

Castello di Murlo

It is a castle on the slopes of Monte Tezio at 580 meters altitude and, as other castles in Umbria, it begins as rural open village (without enclosure). It was fortified later on with thick walls and supporting towers in order to defend the crops, the cattle and the inhabitants of the area.

During the XV Century it was named as castrum. Historical sources show that the building of the small fortress started in 1455 and that further works were made thanks to fundings from Perugia Municipality between 1473 and 1481. Anyhow the Castle was still unfinished.

Recently, after years of complete abandonment, restoration works started during the ‘80s of the XX Century. The first arch of the portico on the left was added, but the different construction phases are still easy to be seen.

The original core is at the north east corner, initially a fortified house, probably, to which later on the three annexes and the two angular towers were added. The original entrance was the one on the east side, whose door was surmounted by some brackets supporting the defence apparatus. The present door, on the west side, as well as the portico and the above loggia, was built afterwards; same time for the external windows made through a cut of the walls.

Recently the structure has been recovered and organized partly as accommodation facility, partly as private residence.

http://turismo.comune.perugia.it

Castello di Procoio o Procopio

The Castle of Carbonana (Castello di Carbonana) is a medieval fortress located on a promontory overlooking the state road 219 that links Gubbio to Umbertide in the region of Umbria, Italy.

History
The first documentary reference to the castle dates to 1192, when Pope Celestine III conferred castrum carbonana to Bentivoglio, bishop of Gubbio. The first lords of the castle were the descendants of Bino di Pietro of the Gabrielli family. Bino di Pietro was the younger brother of Cante Gabrielli, the podestà of Florence who exiled the Dante Alighieri in 1302. In the 14th century, Gubbio also made use of the fortress and its tower to defend and control of the surrounding territory.

In the 1420s, the castle passed to the Porcelli family as a result of the marriage of Giacomo di Galeotto of the Porcelli family to Checca, the widow of Giacomo Gabrielli, who on her mother’s side belonged to the noble Atti di Sassoferrato family. These Porcelli are descendants of Rigo campsor olim de Florentia (a money changer in Florence) whose presence in Gubbio is documented already in 1286.

The Porcelli assumed the position of counts of Carbonana. During the 16th and 17th centuries, members of the family rose to the highest offices in Gubbio and distinguished themselves as mercenaries of the Republic of Venice. The Porcelli patronized the decoration of the castle’s chapel, the enlargement of the castle on the south side and the construction of the elegant round tower on the south-east angle of the bailey. Since the 16th century, the structure has undergone only minor adjustments which never altered substantially its aspect or its proportions of the castle.

The building was bought in 2011 by private owners, who completed in 2014 a restoration under the supervision of the Soprintendenza ai Beni Architettonici e Paesaggistici of Umbria. 

Castello di Carbonana

The Castle of Antognolla, on the north slopes of Monte Tezio, owns its name to one of the most  ancient and noblest family from Perugia, the Antognolla or Antognolli, who lived in Porta Santa Susanna district since the XII Century.

The date when the Castle was built is not exactly certain; the first written notation on it date back to 1174, when the existence of a monastery dedicated to St Peter is reported, monastery of which only a crypt dedicated to St Agata remains.

A real milestone of the castle is the” bolla pontificia” (Papal Bull) of 1399 with which Pope Bonifacio IX made of the so-called county of Antognolla a real feud, giving it to Ruggero di Antognolla and his heirs, for services rendered to the Holy See.

Between the XV and XVI Centuries, the Castle saw many plots and sieges due to the struggle for supremacy of the various noble Peruginian families. In 1480, it was conquered by the Baglioni family, lords of Perugia, because of the opposition to their rule by  Niccolò Antognolla. For this very reason both Bernardino and  Ieronimo di Antognolla took part in XVI century  to the slaughter of the Baglioni. Due to this, one of them was beheaded and the other sent to exile till 1523. The Antognolla Family owned the Castle till 1605.

In 1628, the Castle and the whole county was  bought by the nobleman Cornelio Oddi from Berardino, Cesare, Nicolò and Fermo Antognolla, rendering it a holiday resort.

The Oddi owned the Castle till 1836, when it was acquired by the Marquee Giovanni Battista Guglielmi. He changed the castle considerably in order to make it a as well as a holiday place. In 1921, the Guglielmi family sold the property to the IFI society (Istituto Finanziario Industriale – Industrial and Financial Institute) of the Agnelli Family.

Recently it has been renovated and transformed into a luxury hotel.

http://turismo.comune.perugia.it

Castello di Antognolla

Castello di Monterone, known also as Castello Piceller, is a small restored 13th-century castle in Perugia, Italy. It is located in the road that connects Perugia to Assisi, through Ponte San Giovanni. Very close to the Monastery of San Pietro and to the Church of San Bevignate, this street is one of the "royal roads", that led out of the town through the main gates of Perugia, along a road network already used by the Etruscans and Romans.
Origins of the name and first settlements
The area's name is thought to derive from Monturreno or Mons Turrenius, that derives from Turrena, the medieval name given to Perugia, due to the presence of numerous defensive towers.

The area was first settle around the 3rd century BC; a travertine ossuary was found in the garden of the castle together with three bronze mirror discovered by Mauro Faina: one of those represent the mythological figures of Peleus and Thetys.

The main block of the castle dates to the 13th century. In the Perugia’s archives there is a document dated 18 January 1200 certifies that Gerardo di Ugolino di Alberico, making himself an official citizen of Perugia, submitted his properties in the hill of "Montarone" to the consul Bernarduccio. Father Felice Ciatti in "Memorie Annali et Historiche delle cose di Perugia" (1638), writes: Gerardo di Ghislerio di Alberico, on 14 January, wanting to be a Perugia citizen, submitted the land he had near the hill Montirreno - called Montarone, and every thing he had in the area of Perugia, swearing he would like to stay under the Perugia jurisdiction and whole its rules…

Templars knights and Monterone castle
Until their abolition in 1312, the Templar Knights were linked to the castle. The Templars owned the Monastery of San Bevignate. The rumors and the proximity of the church to the castle make us think that catholic pilgrims received hospitality in that building, being itself submitted to the Order.

Lupattelli wrote in 1899: "Being Templars Knights in San Bevignate from 1200 until 1312, we can assume that the land submitted by Gerardo di Ghislerio to Perugia would include his main house, the castle, where he hosted the lay pilgrims, as they had found in it a monastic institution. So, the ancient building depended by the temple of S.Bevignate and by the Monastery where it was settled the fourth Order of Priests". According to the tradition, there should be underground passages that connect Castello di Monterone to the Church of San Bevignate. After 1312, the Castello di Monterone was probably abandoned for a long time.

Castello di Monterone in modern history
Piceller family, who has origins in S. Ulrico, Val Gardena (now it is Ortisei), moved to Perugia at the end of 1600; here, they acquired lands and properties and established Castello di Monterone as the family residence. Many were the members of the family who had artistic or social merit, like Giuseppe, friend of Francesco Morlacchi, an important flautist and founder of the first music band in Perugia, Bernardino Piceller, painter and drawer of many historic and religious subjects. At the beginnings of 1800, Piceller family was enriched by the trade of ironware with Epiteto di Cristoforo. The son of Epiteto, Alessandro, is a very important character in the history of Castello di Monterone. Archaeologist for pleasure and antiquarian, Alessandro restored and extended the castle in the same way he did with the "Casetta Piceller", a 14th-century chapel situated in Collestrada, restored and re-adapted into a little country-house.
Restoration works were directed by Filippo Lardoni and Alessandro Arienti. On 23 November 1849, the bishop Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci (he will become Pope Leone XIII) inaugurated the castle. Alessandro Piceller did not only restored the ancient medieval building but he enriched it with many artistic and architectural elements (bas-reliefs, statues, a little rose, balconies, mullioned windows and so many other objects from different historic periods. The cloister, delimited by columns and marble capitals (these were collected by the same Alessandro Piceller) was decorated by urns, etruscan bas-reliefs of great historic importance. Castello di Monterone is something unique just because of this mix of styles, romantic elements and materials (sandstone, brick, stone) and it is different form the other XIX examples of Umbria. Among the main pieces of art inside the castle, we must mention the frescoes representing the signs of the main characters of the late middle age fights for the power, painted by Matteo Tassi, who realised also the Sala dei Notari inside the Palazzo dei Priori; the fresco representing The Madonna of Loreto with Saints Peter and Paul, is attributed to Jacopo da Foligno. On 20 October 1929, Alessandro Piceller died and after his death and the castle was abandoned again. During World War II it hosted displaced people and the bombs heavily ruined the building. The Castle was restored after the war.

