Скачать или смотреть Castello della Pietra, Vobbia, Genoa, Liguria, Italy, Europe

The Stone Castle is an ancient fortification located in the Ligurian town of Vobbia, located in the tributary valley of the Scrivia stream. It is the main and most characteristic monument of the Genoese hinterland, the cultural and landscape attraction of the Antola Natural Park and included in the list of Italian national monuments. Situated in a picturesque elevated position between two rocky conglomerates that make up its natural ramparts, it overlooks the road that lays the Vobbia stream, rising from the Isle of the Canton. The castle can only be reached on foot through a path in the woods, and a staircase, after twenty minutes of evocative journey starting from the provincial road. You can also reach the site along another path, a bit longer, which starts from the Torre di Vobbia hamlet, called Castellani Path. In 2014, extraordinary work was done along the path and structure with the temporary closure of the site to the public. You can also visit the castle on public holidays from Easter Monday at the end of October; and, upon agreement with the Antola Park Authority, for groups and committees, also on other weekdays. There are still insufficient and exhaustive historical records on the actual date of construction, so it has been assumed that the construction may date back to the 1100s or even earlier, but that is the mystery. In ancient times, from the Longobard times, there were monks of the abbey of San Colombano di Bobbio, to which the area belonged, which, like other parts, built hermitages in caves or in high and impassable places; as it did for the hermitage of San Colombano. Some documents of 1252 nominate the Opio prince of Pietra, whose family assumed the title of "the Stone", just for the bond with the dense fortress. According to the famous Annali of the historic Caffaro di Rustico by Caschifellone already in the thirteenth century the castle presented the same structural and architectural features of the present and its jurisdiction included the High Val Borbera travaling the hill of San Fermo. Following the death of William of the Stone, the manor became the property of the noble family Spinola until 1518 when it was given for disposition to Adorno; the will is dated June 7, 1518, and the will of Ptolemy Spinola is in favor of the brothers Antoniotto and Gerolamo Adorno. Prospero Adorno got the investment officer on January 17, 1565 and ten years later (1575) the property went into the hands of his brother Girolamo Adorno. In 1579 he was captured by some malevivants, but was regained by Giorgio Centurione on behalf of the Senate of the Republic of Genoa. In 1620 Emperor Mattia of Habsburg annexed it to the Pallavicino feud in Val Borbera, thus losing all autonomous jurisdictional power, but constituting until the end of the eighteenth century an enclave among the greatest feuds of the Fieschi and Spinola; under its jurisdiction were Tower of Vobbia, Pareto in Val Brevenna and Gordena in Upper Val Borbera. Later it became the property of Botta Adorno. In 1797, the French troops arrived in the Apennines and, by the will of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Feudi Imperiali was suppressed. The manor was thus abandoned by the last charismatic castellano, Michele Bisio and after a few years was given to the flames, decreeing the progressive ruin. The bronze of the cannons was taken by the bishop of Tortona to be used for the fusion of the bells of the church of Santa Croce of Crocefieschi. The ruins of the ancient castle, however, remained the property of Botta Adorno until 1882 when it was sold to the Cusani Visconti family. On May 21, 1919, owner Luigi Riva Cusani sold it to John Battista Beroldo of Vobbia. The Beroldo family then donated it to the Commune of Vobbia in 1979. In 1981, two years after the sale to the communal vobbies, the province of Genoa, on the stimulus of the Historical Studies Center for the High Valley Scrivia (Busalla), launched several interventions restoring the old rubble and making reliefs to better understand the entire structure as a whole. The castle, since 1994, is open to the public for guided tours inside and to the Torrione Grande. Since 2008 the castle is managed by Parco dell'Antola which through the "Stone Castle" Cooperative organizes guided tours in April-October and a program of historical events during the summer period, during which also operates a refreshment point that promotes the typical products of the Park. The castle is divided into two bodies set to different dimensions. It is accessed by the anchorage whose three planes have been restored with a grid metal structure.