A medieval castle that towers over the hills and dominates the valley and the town below: the castle of Gradara stands out proud in front of anyone who comes from the town of Gradara, leaving them breathless. A theatre of history and legends, it is a magical place with a charming beauty that deserves to be discovered.
Located at the top of a hill in the homonymous town, the Castle of Gradara towers over the valley below with magnificence and elegance. It is a medieval fortress located in the province of Pesaro-Urbino, in the Marche region, at the border with Emilia-Romagna.
The Castle of Gradara is a magical and time-less place, that towers over the adjacent town and that takes you back with your heart and mind. Theatre of battles between the Papal State and the Marche lordships and always a crossroad of people that moved from north to south or that came from the sea.
History of the Castle of Gradara
Its construction dates back to the 1150, but it was then finished by the Malatesta family around the 1200. Almost 200 years later, Galeazzo Malatesta decided to sell the fortress to the Sforza family for quite a lot of money. However, when Francesco Sforza arrived to take possession of his property, the Malatesta backed out of the deal. Angered for being misled, Francesco Sforza decided that he would fight for the property, and besieged the castle for over a month.
The siege, however, did not end well for the Sforzas that at the end had to give up leaving the castle in the hands of the Malatestas. The hegemony of the Malatesta over the Castle of Gradara lasted for a few more years, to then end after the siege by the Papal State. From that moment on, in 1463, the castle had several lords, from the Medicis, to the Borgias, to the Della Rovere, remaining indirectly controlled by the Church.
The Church took direct control in 1641, the year when its slow and inevitable demise started. The splendour of the castle was restored around 1930, when the whole property was sold to the Italian State.
Paolo and Francesca: the Castello of Gradara between history and myth
The Castle of Gradara has also another interesting and important feature. It is in fact mentioned by Dante as a place where the tragic incident of Paolo and Francesca happened, told in the V Canto of Dante’s Inferno. The story of the two aristocratic lovers is tragic and romantic at the same time, shrouded in mystery which makes it even more fascinating.
Francesca da Polenta was an extremely beautiful young girl who was wedded the Lord of Rimini, one Gianciotto. Gianciotto, however, despite being a brave fighter, he was also quite an ugly man and so, to prevent Francesca from changing her mind about the wedding, the families decided that when the wedding came Paolo – Gianciotto’s brother – would replace his brother.
However, when the deceit was discovered, it was too late as Paolo and Francesca had already fallen in love. This led to them seeing each other in secret and – as Dante puts it in the Divina Commedia – one day Gianciotto caught them reading together the story of Lancelot and Genevieve and killed them. Due to the affair, Dante puts the two lovers in hell but does justice to them by keeping them together, not letting them die alone. In the same way, with the V Canto, Dante lends a sort of immortality to the Castle of Gradara, as the backdrop of a profound and unbreakable love, that was terminated by violence.
The Castle of Gradara today
Today, the Castle of Gradara represents one of the main attractions of the Marche region, in a setting composed of green hills and blue sea which you can see from afar. A special place, where time seems to have stopped, when walking through the town which has remained intact you finally get to the entrance.
You can visit with a guide or on your own, to find out all the beauties and views that the castle and the town has to offers to those who come to visit them. Also, many are the couples that choose the town of Gradara as location for their wedding. History and magic flood this enchanted town making every event unique and leaving everyone breathless.
