Location: Map
Constructed: 14th century
Tel. +39 0547 22409 (0547 356327)
Entrance Fee: Euro 2.50, children Euro 1
Rocca Malatestiana was constructed in the 14th century near a site of an older Ancient Roman military fortification known as "castrum romanum". Roman defenses were destroyed by a landslide in the 11th century. Its ruins were used as a quarry for construction of a medieval structure. The stronghold of Rocca Malatestiana consists of protective wall that surrounds two towers inside the courtyard. The taller is called the "male", while a smaller one is nicknamed the "female". Today the Rocca Malatestiana is open to the public. Additionally it houses a museum inside dedicated to the life in Romagna region. The Male Tower is dedicated to Malatestian Ceramics Museum and the Female Tower houses the Museum of Agriculture. One of the most interesting places here are underground passages that contains former torture chambers, storage and other rooms. Some people who visited and worked here claim that souls of some of the former residents still haunt corridors of Rocca Malatestiana.
The first rock
The first fortress, called "Rocca antica", was
located further upstream, at Beccavento, on the ancient "castrum
romanum", and was destroyed by a landslide caused by a flood of the
Savio river around the year 1000.
The second fortress
Subsequently, another one was built further downstream, called "Rocca
vecchia" and also known as "Rocca dell'Imperatore" because Federico
Barbarossa stayed there. In 1357 Cia degli Ordelaffi, wife of Francesco
II Ordelaffi, lord of Forlì, courageously and courageously supported the
siege of Cardinal Albornoz. The Rocca was destroyed twenty years later,
in 1377, by the Breton army, led by Cardinal Roberto da Ginevra (future
Antipope Clement VII), who sacked and set fire to the entire city.
The third fortress
In 1380 the reconstruction works of the
fortress began on the initiative of Galeotto I Malatesta in order to
make it a strategic point for the defense of the city. The works were
initially directed by the architect Matteo Nuti from Fano and completed
by Cristoforo and Francesco Baldini from Ferrara; they were conducted in
two tranches, the first from 1466 to 1470, when Paul II (1464-1471) was
Pope, the second from 1475 to 1477, under the reign of Sixtus IV
(1471-1484).
In October 1432, after the premature death of
Galeotto Roberto, Domenico Malatesta Novello took over Cesena, to whom
we owe the great works that gave the city the Malatesta imprint that
will characterize it in future centuries in the historic part of the
urban center. In particular, in 1441 Novello devoted himself assiduously
to the new works for the strengthening and renewal of the city walls.
After Novello and Leonardo Da Vinci
After Novello's death in
1465, Cesena returned under papal domination and the Malatesta period
fortress was completely renovated, adapted to the defensive systems
linked to the introduction of new firearms.
In 1500 Cesare
Borgia, known as "il Valentino", made Cesena the "capital" of the Duchy
of Romagna, his center of power. He spent short periods in the fortress
assisted by his friend and assassin Michelotto Corella. The duke wanted
his wife Charlotte d'Albret and his daughter Louise to establish
residence in the noble apartment of the fortress. In 1502 Leonardo da
Vinci arrived in the city, to whom Borgia had given the task of
surveying and updating the fortifications of the conquered cities of
Romagna. Of his activity we have the reliefs of the walls, with
annotations on the two fortresses, and the design of the rastelli that
protected the main access door to the New fortress. Certainly Leonardo
approved the solution adopted for the construction of the new bomber
system placed on the "big wall" of the Rocca Nuova. These emplacements,
called alla franzosa, were completed in June 1503. The Rocca Nuova di
Cesena preserves, together with the traditional aspects of the
fortification system in use in the second half of the fifteenth century,
interesting and particular defensive solutions that were adopted
throughout Italy in the early sixteenth century, following the spread of
heavy weapons, to counter the powerful shot of the guns.
From the
eighteenth century onwards
Until the end of the eighteenth century
the Rocca maintained its function as a military fortress, but after the
Napoleonic era, through modifications, it was transformed into a prison
both inside the Male and Female, and in the Torre del Nuti, so called by
the name of the architect Matteo Nuti who designed it.
In the
early forties of the twentieth century, an air-raid shelter was built on
Viale Mazzoni by the engineer Mario Tellerini. The tunnel, 60 m long, 3
m wide and 4 m high, is built in brick and can accommodate 800 people;
it is equipped with a ventilation system, lighting, two latrines and a
water supply. On 3 September 1944, the fascists of the XXV Black Brigade
"Arturo Capanni" shot eight partisans in the ballroom of the fortress.
La Rocca remained a prison until December 1969 and only in 1970,
when the castle returned to the Municipality, were some prison
structures eliminated.
In 1974 the Museo della Civiltà Contadina
was placed in the Female, which until 1988 remained the only part of the
entire complex that could be visited. Since 1989, due to repeated
restoration and adaptation to safety standards and continuous
enhancement initiatives such as exhibitions, shows, various events, the
Rocca has come to the attention of citizens and tourists and in June
2003 the walkways were reopened inside the walls and the Male. In 2008
the Rocca was at the center of a consolidation and restoration project,
which particularly affected the pictorial decorations. In the 2010s, the
Rocca is home to some cultural events and is the subject of both day and
night guided tours.
The walls
The mass of the fortress, in the shape of an irregular
hexagon, with seven external towers of various shapes (circular,
rectangular, polygonal) and two internal towers that rise above the
great walls, stands on top of the hill visible from all over the city
and the surrounding plain . Given the position and structure of the
Rocca, the fame of its impregnability soon spread, so much so that the
hermit friar of San Agostino Cornelio Guasconi described it as follows
in his poem "The flood occurred in Cesena in 1525 on 10 July":
«Posta
is on a hillock, at such a height,
which can hardly be reached with
artillery.
Nor can it ever be taken without flaw,
but the falcon
is called from Romagna.»
Entering the internal courtyard, the
long east curtain rises to the right; on the left stretches the large
sloping meadow dominated by the two towers, the Male and the Female;
opposite, at the end of the lower courtyard, the passage is barred by
the large iron gate, the ancient main entrance to the fortress.
The Female and Male towers
Through the lower courtyard, one enters
the "Female Tower" inside which the Historical Museum of Agriculture is
housed. In the basement, in two large barrel-vaulted rooms, agricultural
carts, carriages and work tools are kept. The collection of Caveje is
interesting, wrought iron pins decorated with tinkling rings, which had
the function of blocking the yoke of the oxen to the rudder of the cart.
Upstairs you can admire the reconstruction of a peasant kitchen and
that of a bedroom. Go up the staircase and continue to the second floor
where the loom room displays images and equipment that tell the story of
the entire hemp cycle, from harvesting the cane to weaving the canvas.
In the adjoining rooms, tools for the grain cycle are kept, from
large plows to scythes and sieves for winnowing. On the third floor, the
entire cycle of grapes and wine is amply documented, both with images
and with equipment from the past. Furthermore, the reconstruction of an
old carpentry shop has just been set up.
The Armory of the Rocca
is housed in the hexagonal room of the corner tower with armor, helmets,
spears, spades, halberds, axes, flails, bows, crossbows, shields and
swords. On this floor it is possible to notice that along the walls
there are machicolations or corbels, even if closed by glass, which were
used to throw stones, arrows or boiling pitch at the enemies who
attempted to climb the tower; in the upper part of the wall you can see
the ancient dovetail merlons which were closed for the transformation of
the fortress into a prison. On the intermediate floors there are the
small hexagonal rooms of the turret which keep other tools for the
support craft activities.
In the last room before leaving,
firearms from various periods from the sixteenth to the nineteenth
century are on display.
Leaving the Female Tower, the Male Tower
is accessed thanks to the staircase that leads to the mezzanine floor.
Once upon a time the Tower had no connections with the courtyard and the
current gate was cut out of the brick, probably at the time of the
transformation of the Rocca into a district prison. Thus we find
ourselves in the room on the mezzanine floor, formerly illuminated by
two small windows on the east and north walls; the large window opposite
was also cut into the living wall, at the same time as the door. This
environment is now used for thematic exhibitions of ceramics and
majolica found in the archaeological excavations of the historic centre;
periodically the exhibitions are renewed for historical periods.
From this room, up the steep staircase, you go up to that of the
Commandant of the fortress, which preserves the remains of an ancient
fireplace, niches on the walls, seats at the three windows, a splendid
spiral ceiling and two entrance doors. One connected the Male to the
Female with a drawbridge, which no longer exists and the other still
allows you to descend, with a suspension bridge, on the western bastion.
Above this we can see, wedged into the wall, the remains of the wooden
pulleys that commanded the opening and closing of the drawbridge.
An internal staircase in the wall starts from the room, which allows
access to the upper floor where two cells of the prison system are kept,
which have drawings and inscriptions left by the prisoners on the walls.
From the keep tower you go down, across the fixed bridge, to the west
bastion, where the panoramic walk on the walls begins.
The internal walkways, which can be accessed through a small door
located in the middle of the east curtain; one enters the corridor known
as the "well"; halfway through, in fact, you pass over the grate which
closes off a square-shaped cavity, which someone has called the "razor
well", but which could also conceal one of the much-famed secret
underground passages for escaping from the Rocca in case of siege.
Continuing, you turn right into the corridor called del Nuti, named
after the architect who designed it, the same one who built the
fifteenth-century hall of the Malatestiana Library; at the end you reach
the room on the middle floor of the Watchtower.
Inside you can
admire an armiger with an iron shirt and the saddle with which the
"Giostra d'incontro" was run from the Malatesta era until 1838. It was a
jousting tournament during which four knights, representing of the four
districts of the city, challenged each other to battle with the spear in
Piazza Grande, today Piazza del Popolo. The winner was the one who
unseated his opponents or who, after five clashes, had scored the most
points based on the opponent's hit parts. On the two shoulders of the
window there are engravings on the bricks in strange characters, perhaps
Cyrillic, left by soldiers garrisoning the Rocca. The name Giulio Croce
stands out clearly. On the sides of the window you can see two guns,
walled up from the outside on an unspecified date and left closed even
during the restoration of the seventies and eighties.
Going up
the spiral staircase, you reach the upper floor, occupied by a single
circular room called "delle cannonere" due to the presence of two
emplacements for still open cannons and with the smoke intake chimney
from the explosion; the window in the center looks towards the Basilica
del Monte and the eighteenth-century Church of Sant'Agostino; the two
small windows on the opposite wall, one of which is partially closed by
a reinforcing wall built parallel to the ancient one in the corridor,
keep the outer sides of the wall under observation. The spiral staircase
would continue until it reached the open-air terraces, but, for safety
and security reasons, it is enclosed by a transparent dome. From the
"room of the gunboats" starts the corridor called "del nano", so defined
because it is the lowest of the whole structure and forces those who
walk it to advance with their heads bowed; if it had been invading
enemies they would have found themselves in a condition of great
vulnerability without being able to defend themselves.
At the end
of the "corridor of the dwarf" you go down the spiral staircase halfway
down, go up the steps of the straight staircase on the left, you reach
the upper floor of the east curtain and the longest corridor of all the
walkways opens before your eyes internal, about 130 meters, naturally
lit by the loopholes that look towards the internal courtyard. The last
part of the corridor, commonly known as the "Ghost Corridor" has the
loopholes blocked by the construction of the outer building which served
as the prison kitchen, offices and warden's house. Precisely in this
last stretch, paranormal phenomena would have occurred on several
occasions which lead to talk of "ghosts at the Rocca".
At the end
of the corridor one descends the long straight staircase of 42 steps: on
the right, there is the junction with the south curtain and the exit
under the entrance vault; on the left there are two small rooms in the
corner turret with two gunports. Going all the way down the staircase,
one descends into the semicircular room protecting the ancient moat, now
underground, whose function is testified by an observation loophole, a
mouthpiece and a currently walled-up door. Someone's imagination and
vague references in ancient documents have defined it as "the torture
room" due to its position below ground level and its distance from the
two internal towers.
Going up the staircase, you enter the
southern curtain wall, the highest and naturally lit of the entire
route, at the end of which is a real marvel of the Malatesta Fortress:
the horse staircase. High and monumental, it consists of a slide with
curbs to allow the horses to enter from the moat, climb up to the level
of the internal high courtyards and reach the courtyard of the cistern,
which was the most protected of the entire defensive structure of the
fortress. This stretch is part of the next lot of works at the Rocca and
could be opened to the public in a fairly short time.
On the horizon, the hills of Bertinoro and Monte Maggio stand out,
the first dominated by the Rocca and the second covered in trees, behind
which the sun sets with polychrome effects.
At the center of the
flat area rise the "Towers" of the new district of San Mauro and at the
foot of the Garampo hill stands the eighteenth-century church of San
Domenico; further on, on the right, Carisport and the Savio Racecourse.
Under the north bastion you can admire the Malatesta City: the
verdigris dome of the church of Santa Cristina is easily identifiable,
rebuilt by order of Pope Pius VII, Barnaba Chiaramonti from Cesena, who
entrusted the project to the architect Giuseppe Valadier in 1814, and a
little further away the bell tower of San Bartolomeo, immediately beyond
the Malatesta walls; in the centre, very close to each other, the church
of Boccaquattro, the Palazzo del Ridotto dei Nobili on whose facade
opens the niche from which Pope Pius VI, Giovanni Angelo Braschi from
Cesena blesses the city; the civic tower known as the "Campanon" and the
long facade of the building that houses the Malatestiana Library with
medallions of illustrious citizens of Cesena and lunette windows;
further to the right stands the agile spire of the bell tower of the
Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista. On the horizon, the blue line of the
Adriatic Sea against which the skyscrapers of Cervia and Milano
Marittima stand out, on the left, and Cesenatico on the right.
Turning on the east bastion, on top of the Spaziano hill, the
Benedictine Abbey of S. Maria del Monte rises, founded by San Mauro,
bishop of Cesena shortly before the year 1000; below you can see the
bulk of the Church of Sant'Agostino, a true jewel of sacred art, rebuilt
starting from 1752 to a design by Luigi Vanvitelli.
To the south,
under the ramparts, protected by the ancient city wall, lies the
spheristerium, where in the past matches of ball and tambourine were
played; in the background stand the ruins of the Rocca Vecchia and the
Porta Montanara; beyond it rises the Colle dei Cappuccini with the
convent of the same name and in the distance the line of the Apennine
peaks which crown the Savio valley.
Walking through the ramparts,
you can see their different widths, determined by the greater or lesser
possibility of attacks by enemy artillery. From the Tower of San Giorgio
you can admire the complex of the Istituto Artigianelli Lugaresi; the
Clemente bridge, from the name of Pope Clement XII who started its
reconstruction in 1733, but better known as Ponte Vecchio; the bell
tower of San Rocco, the only remnant of the seventeenth-century church
destroyed by the allied bombings of 1944; far, to the south, on the
promontory overlooking the course of the Savio river, the Torre
Malatestiana of Roversano.
From the ramparts you go down onto the
large lawn, which was once the parade ground, where the soldiers
practiced in warfare and which today is a venue for cultural,
folkloristic, theatrical and musical events.
The visit to the
Rocca Malatestiana in Cesena is now over; you can linger on the lawn and
in the courtyards to enjoy the peace and beauty of the castle full of
history.
Agricultural History Museum
The Museum of the History of
Agriculture housed inside the Rocca Malatestiana was born thanks to the
donation to the city by the artist Mario Bocchini in 1974 and represents
one of the richest collections in the sector in the entire region.
Located on three floors inside the "female" tower, to which the basement
must be added, the museum is a mirror on the activity that has marked
the economy and society of Cesena since its origins: agriculture.
Introduced by a substantial historical part, the museum is organized
according to the production cycles that harmonized country life: wheat,
corn, hemp, country trades, vines and wine, breeding, transport and
finally the object room. Each utensil or piece of furniture is indicated
both in Italian and in the Romagna dialect.
Exhibition space for
archaeological exhibitions
Inside the "male" tower, an exhibition
space has been created for archaeological exhibitions in which
exhibitions of finds from the Malatesta and Renaissance periods are set
up, documents of a vast artisan production that spans a wide time span,
from the 14th century to the 18th century .