SOLD – The “Castelletto”, Cesena. Emilia-Romagna

The main body of this very particular villa was built between the late 1800s and early 1900s on the ruins of previous buildings and on the thirteenth-century layout of the city’s medieval fortress.

Villa Valeria, this is the current name of the “Castelletto” dedicated to a previous property, is divided into four independent apartments that are spread over five levels Internally there are 14 rooms as well as 4 kitchens and 7 bathrooms for a total land area of ​​922 square meters . The external structure, the walls and the roofs are in excellent condition. The interiors are totally to be restored.

Beyond the entrance gate, there is a splendid park of over 2000 square meters completely fenced and shaded by centuries-old trees. At the back of the building, from the courtyard of the well, it rises gently up to the ancient southern bastion of the Rocca Vecchia, the picturesque and fascinating 1,500 square meter internal garden.

On the third floor there are two large terraces: one of 23 square meters, facing east on the walls of the Malatesta Fortress, and the main one of 100 square meters with a view over the city and to the sea.

A unique property in an extraordinary location. Versatile spaces, suitable for carrying out different projects: an exclusive private residence, an accommodation facility or a luxury clinic, a representative office. Whatever their destination will be, these environments will always tell the charm and magic of an unrepeatable and timeless place.

Energy class G

His own story

On the top of Mount Garampo, a short distance from the place where the ancient Roman castrum stood, a defensive fortress was built in the 12th century.

In 1177 Federico Barbarossa stayed there and it was he who wanted the construction of the imposing tower, still visible, where his wife Beatrice lived for three years.

In 1241, the emperor Frederick II also arrived in Cesena who opposed the pope and his supporters. He had some portions of the building demolished to strengthen it and improve its defensive capabilities.

The fortress was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the clashes between the Guelphs and Ghibellines until, at the end of the 13th century, Guido I ° da Montefeltro temporarily expelled the Malatesta from Cesena. Appointed captain of the people, he had the building completely restored.

In 1377 the fortress was conquered by the mercenary militias of the Bretons who were fighting for the cause of the Papal State against the Republic of Florence. Cesena, according to the writings of the time, was razed to the ground. In 1380, the Malatesta family, led by Galetto Malatesta, regained control of the city and began, in the northwest, the construction of the new fortress.

No longer useful as a defensive building, in 1606 the fortress, called the Rocca Vecchia, was granted in use to the order of the Minimi friars of San Francesco di Paola, the so-called Paolotti, who, in 1625, began the construction of their convent where they remained until the arrival of the French troops in February 1779.

The same year, Napoleon ordered that the convent be dismantled and the building converted to a prison facility, like other public buildings in the city, including the fifteenth-century fortress.

In May 1799, the French were expelled from Cesena by the Austrian imperial troops allied with the Pope. The forty-three detainees in the Rocca Vecchia were released and in their place those who had supported the French government were imprisoned.

In January 1801, the French regained control of the city and took possession of the prison on Monte Garampo. The Paolotti church was immediately destroyed. Only with their final withdrawal from Cesena and Italy, the Rocca Vecchia returned to the people and the city. The papers of the papal cadastre of the mid-nineteenth century document the survival of only the Frederick’s tower and the walls of the bastion. The current building, which develops around the ancient tower, was the seat of the German command during the Second World War and, it is said, even managed to withstand the cannonade of the Allies.

Its current eclectic appearance is the result of the love and resources lavished by its owner for this special place after World War II.