Top 20 Castles in Perugia

The Cassero di Porta di Sant'Angelo is one of the medieval gates of Perugia's walls, located in the Sant'Angelo district, at the end of Corso Garibaldi, adjacent to the Temple of Sant'Angelo. It's easy to reach by climbing through the streets of the university district.

The Cassero di Porta di Sant'Angelo is one of the medieval gates of the city walls of Perugia. It can be seen in the Gonfalone della Giustizia, a painting by Perugino (1496–1498) kept in the National Gallery of Umbria.

Bevagna / Region – Umbria / Province – Perugia (PG) The town, surrounded by a city wall with towers and gates, has an intact medieval structure (12th-13th centuries). In the upper part of the town, numerous Roman remains can still be seen: the ruins of a temple, the theater, and a thermal bath complex, of which a frigidarium with a magnificent black and white floor mosaic depicting marine figures from the 2nd century AD survives. The medieval town structure, with its squares and noble houses, developed over the Romanesque foundations: The magnificent Piazza Silvestri is home to the Palazzo dei Consoli (1270), which houses the Torti Theater, the Romanesque churches of San Silvestro and San Michele Arcangelo, both from the late 12th century, and the church of San Domenico e Giacomo (1291). Worth seeing is the Palazzo Comunale (late 18th century), which houses the historical archives, the library, and the art gallery. The Baroque churches of the Monastery of Santa Margherita and San Filippo are also very interesting. At the highest point in the town stands the Church of San Francesco (late 13th century). Next to the altar, one can see the stone on which St. Francis knelt when he preached to the flock of birds at Pian d'Arca. The 18th-century Palazzo Lepri houses the Museum of Bevagna, with works that tell the story of the town from pre-Roman times to the 18th century: archaeological finds from the ancient city of Mevania, medieval documents, and paintings by Dono Doni, Fantino, and Corrado Giaquinto. In the surrounding area, the Sanctuary of Madonna delle Grazie (late 16th century), the Sanctuary of Madonna della Valle, and the Monastery of Annunziata (11th century), formerly a defensive castle, rise up against the hillsides. Text / Source: Umbria Tourism.it contatti@umbriatourism.it https://www.umbriatourism.it/de/bevagna

Rocca di Passignano (Castle of Passignano) - Passignano sul Trasimeno The Rocca di Passignano (Castle of Passignano) is located inside the village, in an elevated position above the town, which later expanded to the lakeshore. According to some sources, Passignano could mean "place of the pass," referring to the existence of a Roman military structure that served to control a "pass" between the present-day regions of Umbria and Tuscany. Nothing remains of this possible structure today. Currently, the castle consists of ruins of medieval structures: square walls, a half-ruined tower, and the northern part of the castle with a triangular tower. Furthermore, a series of alleys wind through this part of the historic center, once surrounded by walls, giving an idea of what the street layout within the castle might have looked like. The oldest core probably dates back to the 5th or 6th century; The square walls, however, were built between 820 and 850, when the castle belonged to the Marquises of Tuscany. In 1187, the property became the property of the canons of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Perugia. In the 13th century, the castle underwent significant renovations, transforming it into a true fortress, an outpost, and defensive bastion of the Perugian territory. Text / Source: Umbria Tourism.it https://www.umbriatourism.it/de/-/la-rocca-passignano-de

The Rocca del Leone is the medieval fortress with an irregular pentagonal structure built starting from the thirteenth century. This is the main monument of Castiglione del Lago and is definitely worth a visit.

ARCHITECTURAL STRATIFICATIONS Visiting this area of the Rocca, where Via Bagliona meets the shorter Via alla Piazza Gran-de, the complex and fascinating interplay between the remains of the medieval quarter and the structures of the papal fortress can be seen more clearly. The limestone and travertine walls of the ground floor of the medieval buildings, the pointed arches of the entrances to houses and shops and the base of Gentile Ba-glioni's tower blend with the brick vaults that cover the streets and the great foundation columns of the fortress. The old buildings were gutted and the underground chambers of the Rocca Paolina made. The destruction of a large part of the city and the construction of the Rocca in its place was a tearing wound for Perugia, which thus lost the quarter with its most elegant houses and the church of Santa Maria dei Servi, which housed many tombs of noble families and remarkable works of art. The keystone of its entrance is still visible. One of the frescoes by Benedetto Bonfigli (second half of the 15th century) in the chapel of the Palazzo dei Priori (now part of the National Gallery of Umbria) represents precisely this area of the medieval city and remains the most important evidence of how it was before the construction of the fortress.

ROCCA PAOLINA This underground structure, known as Rocca Paolina ("Pauline Fortress"), is the result of the building on buildings that took place in different eras. In the Middle Ages (12th-16th centuries) in this district stood the tower houses of some aristocratic Perugian families. In the 15th century the most important of these buildings belonged to the Baglioni family, the most powerful in Renaissance Perugia. In 1540, after the Salt War, which broke out following the rise in the price of salt and the refusal of Perugia to accept the rule of the Pope, Perugia lost its independence and was annexed to the Papal States. Pope Paul II had a fortress built to definitively subjugate the city and commissioned the architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger to build it in this area, raising it above the medieval buildings. The fortress was called "Rocca Paolina" because Paul Ill ordered its construction. To speed up the works, which were completed in 1543, the fortress did not completely eliminate the existing buildings, but instead integrated them, preserving many parts (walls, corners, streets, arches), creating the effect of a practically unique underground city. The ancient road network, and in particular the long Via Bagliona that runs through the entire fortress, is still clearly visible today; in the Middle Ages these streets were of course open to the sky, and above the buildings rose tall towers, the instruments and symbols of power and prestige. Only one of the many towers that existed in the medieval city remains intact today in another area of the historic center, the Torre degli Sciri (or Torre degli Scalzi), but more or less considerable fragments can still be identified of about thirty of the forty towers remembered by tradition.

Not only the beach promenade is a must-see in Passignano sul Trasimeno, but also the old town with its many small, romantic alleys is a must-see. Here you will find many small restaurants and shops, some of which are hidden, where you can buy beautiful souvenirs or delicacies.