The castle of Romena, one of the most majestic monumental castles of the Counts Guidi of Casentino, stands on a hill 626 m above sea level dammed by the Arno River and centrally located in the Upper Casentino Fiesolano, in the present Commune of Pratovecchio Stia.
It preserves the vestiges of its ancient grandeur in the structures of the keep area, three large fortified towers and various parts of the three concentric fortified circles arranged on different heights that testify to the various construction phases it went through between the 11th and 14th centuries.
Founded by the Marquises of Spoleto presumably during the 11th century, it underwent a second fundamental building phase after which, during the 12th century, it became part of the possessions of the Conti Guidi, arriving at its greatest architectural splendor, like the castles of Porciano and Poppi, during the 13th century, at the time of Dante Alighieri. In the mid-1300s, it was ceded by sale from the Conti Guidi to the Republic of Florence, becoming the seat of a municipality and an officialdom. The complex, as we can still admire it today, has a south/east – north/west orientation and is the result, above all, of building activity achieved during the 1200s.
At the end of the 1700s the castle was put up for public auction and was later purchased by the Counts Goretti de’Flamini, who still own it today. In the early 20th century, moreover, and more precisely in 1902, the poet Gabriele d’Annunzio was a guest of the Goretti counts and would write much of Alcyone here. After restoration in the mid-1950s, the castle took on its current architectural appearance, remaining one of the most significant castle monuments in Casentino and Tuscany.
