Imposing with four buttresses and battlements embroidering the perimeter, one of the best maintained castles in Lazio, to visit and discover.
The Ruspoli Castle is located in Vignanello, on the slopes of the Cimini mountains, in the province of Viterbo, 18 km away. It is at an altitude of 369 meters above sea level and has about 4,600 inhabitants (vignanellesi).
The current structure of the castle is the result of continuous expansion and readaptation of an ancient medieval castle. One of the most beautiful examples of Renaissance architecture in Tuscia enriched with its precious Italian gardens.
It was born as a garrison of the Benedictine monks to administer the feud from the mid-ninth century to the beginning of the eleventh. With the raids between the feudal lords who contended for even the smallest settlements, it suffered various attacks and the village passed from hand to hand. In 1228 the castle suffered a serious attack by the Viterbesi and was almost totally destroyed.
The current form of the castle is due to the reconstruction, perhaps based on a design by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, which took place between 1531 and 1538 and was commissioned by Beatrice Farnese and her son-in-law Sforza Marescotti.
The medieval fortress was thus transformed into the majestic grey stone castle we see today.
Its imposing bulk, surrounded by a deep moat, is reinforced by four angular bastions and crowned by Ghibelline battlements.
