Castiglione del Lago is an Italian town of 15 358 inhabitants in the province of Perugia in Umbria. It stands on a promontory located on the western shore of Lake Trasimeno.
It extends in the western part of Umbria, bordering the provinces of Siena and Arezzo. Its territory includes a large part of Lake Trasimeno and the Polvese island. Castiglione del Lago stands on a limestone spur which was originally the fourth island of the lake, but following the lowering of the water level and the creation of an alluvial plain it finally assumed its current configuration. This fertile flat area, corresponding to the ancient lake basin, is bordered to the west by a series of hills that mark the physical border with Tuscany. The modern part of the town has developed in the flat belt to the west from the medieval historic center.
The marquisate of Castiglione del Lago (1563-1647)
The
town owes its name to the symbol that stands out in the coat of arms
of the family that once dominated it; the name Castiglione, in fact,
derives from the Latin Castellum Leonis (castle of the lion), later
popularized in Castellioni.
Castiglione del Lago is located
along what was once an important communication route, squeezed
between Orvieto to the south, Chiusi to the west and Arezzo to the
north. Its position in such a disputed area, first between the
Etruscans and the Romans, then between the Tuscan towns and Perugia,
caused on numerous occasions the destruction of the original
fortifications, rebuilt several times. Founded by the Romans with
the name of Novum Clusium (Nuova Chiusi), it stands on a hill that
in ancient times was the fourth island of Lake Trasimeno (the three
still existing islands are Maggiore, Minore and Polvese) before the
strip of water that separated it from the mainland was filled. In
the urban structure of the ancient village it is easy to see, in the
three parallel streets that cut longitudinally the town (decumani),
the Roman origin.
Only during the reign of Frederick II (at
the beginning of the 13th century), Castiglione experienced a period
of relative stability.
Later the town fell under the control
of Perugia, becoming a fief of the powerful Baglioni family. In
1550, Pope Julius III granted the fiefdom to his sister Giacoma
Ciocchi del Monte. On November 19, 1563, her son, Ascanio della
Corgna, became Marquis of Castiglione and Chiugi at the behest of
Pius IV, together with his brother Cardinal Fulvio. In 1617 Paul IV
granted the ducal title to Fulvio II. Ascanio I was succeeded by
Diomedes, Ascanio II and Fulvio II, in whose service the burlesque
poet Cesare Caporali and the severe court secretary, as well as
political writer, Scipione Tolomei worked. Duke Fulvio II died in
1647 without leaving heirs and so the fiefdom returned under the
dominion of the State of the Church.
The marquisate had an
area of approx. 200 km² and importance as a "buffer zone" between
the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the papal territories. It was a papal
fief with the power of an empire and the right to coin money.
Ascanio della Corgna issued the statutes in February 1571, later
completed by Cardinal Fulvio and his nephew Diomede: they
constituted a large collection of civil and criminal juridical norms
to regulate what happened in the statelet. The marquisate was also
renowned for cultural and artistic events: in the Castiglionese
palace the marquis organized meetings of the Accademia degli
Insensati, with the participation of distinguished writers, nobles
and artists; Pomarancio and other painters frescoed the prestigious
residence, designed by Vignola and Galeazzo Alessi.
Second
World War
Before the start of the conflict there was the flight
school for fighter pilots of the Regia Aeronautica. During the
Second World War the town of Castiglione del Lago was crossed by the
Albert line, also known as the "Trasimeno line": it was a defensive
line created by the German army during the retreat from the Italian
campaign in 1944.
Palazzo della Corgna or ducale: the only small "palace" existing in Umbria, with beautiful frescoed rooms by Pomarancio and Salvio Savini, including the Sala Maggiore and the Sala del Trono (mythological subjects, deeds of Ascanio della Corgna, made by Marquis Diomede); on the ground floor (it was used by the della Corgna as the seat of an "intellectual cenacle") very fine frescoes with the stories of the world upside down and Diana and Callisto, attributed to Salvio Savini; only 24 chairs remain of the original Corgnesco furniture.
Rocca del Leone: characteristic for the triangular tower, which
Frederick II of Swabia had Friar Elia da Cortona revisit and to
which the Marquis Ascanio I gave it a definitive physiognomy; it is
connected to the ducal palace by a suggestive walkway with slits on
the Trasimeno; the village is still surrounded by walls with three
doors (Perugina, Florentine, Sienese); the urban plan, based on the
number three, was designed by Galeazzo Alessi on studies by Vignola
and indications by Ascanio della Corgna.
Church of Santa Maria
Maddalena, of the early nineteenth century, on a pre-existing
building, preserves the Madonna on the throne, by Eusebio da San
Giorgio, a pupil of Perugino.
Church of San Domenico: erected in
1638 by Duke Fulvio II, as thanks for the recovery of his wife
Eleonora de Mendoza (from a gangrene to an arm you can see the ex
voto. A reproduction of the arm can be visited in the museum of San
Domenico , next to the church); the valuable interior features a
wooden coffered ceiling (with Bourbon di Sorbello coat of arms); in
the adjacent chapel of the Savior there are the tombs of the poet
Cesare Caporali and Duke Fulvio II, and interesting wooden statues,
donated by them, depicting Jesus scourged and the Saint of Guzman.
Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Casamaggiore: built by Duke
Fulvio II in the early seventeenth century, it preserves some
seventeenth-century canvases offered by him (in one of these, at the
foot of the risen Christ, you can see, on the right, a character who
presumably reproduces the appearance of the client of the Corgna).
Sanctuary of the Madonna della Carraia.