Rocca Albornoziana and Ponte delle Torri in Spoleto
Leaving Spoleto on the coach.
One last view of the aqueduct.
The coach was on Viale Giacomo Matteotti, near Via Flaminia.
The Ponte delle Torri is an arch bridge derived from a Roman aqueduct located in Spoleto .
The structure crosses the course of the Tessino torrent and reconnects what the tectonic activity and the linear erosion of the torrent have divided.
At the two ends of the bridge there are two fortresses, the Rocca Albornoziana and the Fortilizio dei Mulini , built to watch over the bridge and active as a mill until the 19th century . The name Ponte delle Torri could allude to the towers of the two fortresses or to the appearance of the pylons.
It rises on nine mighty arches, is 230 meters long and 80 high. The maximum dimensions of some pillars at the base are 10 x 12 metres. Pylons and arches do not have constant measurements: the pillars towards Monteluco are more massive than the others and are reinforced by arches placed about halfway up their height; the space between the arches is also different, smaller than the corresponding ones towards Sant'Elia. Their diversity suggests that they were built in different periods. The two pylons rising from the bottom of the valley are empty and practicable, inside some rooms that served as guard posts, with windows and access doors located a few meters from the ground; over time they have been a safe diurnal and seasonal refuge for various bats.
Above the structure stands a wall about 12 meters high which delimits the road above the bridge for its entire length; on its top in a dug canal, the water flowed, coming from the aqueducts of Cortaccione and Patrico, which supplied the city. Originally it was completely closed, only in 1845 was the panoramic central window opened by the gonfaloniere Parenzi; the parapet in front, however, about one meter high, was built at the end of the 19th century.
A recess in the wall, a niche formerly intended for the surveillance of the aqueduct, also had other uses: when Spoleto had the customs belt made up of the medieval walls , it was used as a guardhouse for the tax collector.
At the eastern end of the bridge, near the Fortilizio dei Mulini, a pedestrian path called Giro dei Condotti begins, which leads to ancient hermitages and extends across the slope of Monteluco, offering breathtaking views and luxuriant and varied vegetation. Its walking surface covers the ancient pipes of the Patrico aqueduct built in 1891.
The Fortilizio dei Mulini is an impervious turreted building located in Spoleto , at the end of the Ponte delle Torri towards Monteluco . The Giro dei Condotti and other paths towards the Spoleto mountains start from here. Although reduced to a dilapidated ruin, it is part of the most famous and characteristic panorama of the city.
The main function of the fort was surveillance: a watchtower that watched over the road above the bridge, easy to beat and target from above. At the other extreme, surveillance was guaranteed by one of the six sturdy towers of the mighty fortress, the Rocca Albornoziana . The perfect alignment between this and the fort, made it possible to easily communicate any dangers through smoke or fire signals, or flag-waving.
Another important function was that of a grain mill . In fact, the fort represented the point of confluence of two aqueducts, that of Cortaccione and that coming from Patrico . Before crossing the channel over the bridge, the water poured into two large tanks called Rifolta adapted inside the fortress since the fourteenth century. Flowing into the Rifolta , the waters with their fall activated the millstones of a municipal mill which remained in operation until the end of the nineteenth century , then abandoned after the construction of the new aqueduct in 1894.
Other old southern aqueducts continued to pour into the Rifolta , but the descent of their waters, no longer having to feed the mill, became a suggestive set of waterfalls.
The Rocca Albornoziana is a fortress located on the top of the Sant'Elia hill overlooking the city of Spoleto . It is the main bulwark of the system of fortifications built by Pope Innocent VI , to militarily strengthen and make the authority of the Church more evident in the territories of central Italy , in view of the now imminent return of the papal see to Rome after the seventy approximately years of stay in Avignon .
The construction works took place between 1363 and 1367 , and were presided over by the Spanish cardinal Egidio Albornoz , under the direction of the Gubbio architect Matteo Gattaponi .
The latter skilfully designed a building that could be both a solid and imposing fortress, but also an elegant and comfortable residence, which was used for this purpose by many illustrious guests.
The structure of the rectangular perimeter, in fact, with four corner towers, is divided into two spaces separated by a median body connected to two other towers: the Cortile delle armi , which occupies the area intended for the troops, and the Cortile d'Onore surrounded from buildings intended for the governors of the city, but where many popes also stayed, including Boniface IX in 1392 and Niccolò V in 1449 during the plague in Rome , as well as Lucrezia Borgia on various occasions . This area, which also housed the administrative offices, is surrounded by a double loggia built, according to Vasari, designed by Bernardo Rossellino , called to Spoleto by Pope Nicholas V. In the center of the courtyard there is a hexagonal well which surmounts a large cistern used for collecting rainwater.
The two courtyards are connected to each other by a frescoed archway between 1572 and 1575 on which the coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII is painted ; on the sides there are representations of six cities of the Papal State : Porto d'Anzio , Perugia , Orvieto , Ripatransone , Spoleto and one last city not yet identified. Through the grand staircase you go up to the main floor; from here a sixteenth-century stone door gives access to the largest room of the Rocca: the Hall of Honour. This environment, which hosted banquets and large ceremonies, was never completed in terms of vaulted ceilings and pictorial decoration. The hall leads to the pinta room , the room located inside the main tower, where the castellan lived. Along the walls there are two pictorial cycles dated between the last decade of the fourteenth century and the first decades of the following century.
After the sixteenth century the fortress began to lose importance so much that, from 1764 , the governors preferred to reside within the city walls . From 1817 the fortress was used as a prison until 1982 .
After years of demanding restoration, in 2007 it was used as the permanent seat of the National Museum of the Duchy of Spoleto .
Inside the fortress are also located the laboratory of diagnostics applied to cultural heritage and the European school of conservation and restoration of ancient books.
Rocca Albornoziana and Ponte delle Torri in Spoleto
Leaving Spoleto on the coach.
One last view of the aqueduct.
The coach was on Viale Giacomo Matteotti, near Via Flaminia.
The Ponte delle Torri is an arch bridge derived from a Roman aqueduct located in Spoleto .
The structure crosses the course of the Tessino torrent and reconnects what the tectonic activity and the linear erosion of the torrent have divided.
At the two ends of the bridge there are two fortresses, the Rocca Albornoziana and the Fortilizio dei Mulini , built to watch over the bridge and active as a mill until the 19th century . The name Ponte delle Torri could allude to the towers of the two fortresses or to the appearance of the pylons.
It rises on nine mighty arches, is 230 meters long and 80 high. The maximum dimensions of some pillars at the base are 10 x 12 metres. Pylons and arches do not have constant measurements: the pillars towards Monteluco are more massive than the others and are reinforced by arches placed about halfway up their height; the space between the arches is also different, smaller than the corresponding ones towards Sant'Elia. Their diversity suggests that they were built in different periods. The two pylons rising from the bottom of the valley are empty and practicable, inside some rooms that served as guard posts, with windows and access doors located a few meters from the ground; over time they have been a safe diurnal and seasonal refuge for various bats.
Above the structure stands a wall about 12 meters high which delimits the road above the bridge for its entire length; on its top in a dug canal, the water flowed, coming from the aqueducts of Cortaccione and Patrico, which supplied the city. Originally it was completely closed, only in 1845 was the panoramic central window opened by the gonfaloniere Parenzi; the parapet in front, however, about one meter high, was built at the end of the 19th century.
A recess in the wall, a niche formerly intended for the surveillance of the aqueduct, also had other uses: when Spoleto had the customs belt made up of the medieval walls , it was used as a guardhouse for the tax collector.
At the eastern end of the bridge, near the Fortilizio dei Mulini, a pedestrian path called Giro dei Condotti begins, which leads to ancient hermitages and extends across the slope of Monteluco, offering breathtaking views and luxuriant and varied vegetation. Its walking surface covers the ancient pipes of the Patrico aqueduct built in 1891.
The Fortilizio dei Mulini is an impervious turreted building located in Spoleto , at the end of the Ponte delle Torri towards Monteluco . The Giro dei Condotti and other paths towards the Spoleto mountains start from here. Although reduced to a dilapidated ruin, it is part of the most famous and characteristic panorama of the city.
The main function of the fort was surveillance: a watchtower that watched over the road above the bridge, easy to beat and target from above. At the other extreme, surveillance was guaranteed by one of the six sturdy towers of the mighty fortress, the Rocca Albornoziana . The perfect alignment between this and the fort, made it possible to easily communicate any dangers through smoke or fire signals, or flag-waving.
Another important function was that of a grain mill . In fact, the fort represented the point of confluence of two aqueducts, that of Cortaccione and that coming from Patrico . Before crossing the channel over the bridge, the water poured into two large tanks called Rifolta adapted inside the fortress since the fourteenth century. Flowing into the Rifolta , the waters with their fall activated the millstones of a municipal mill which remained in operation until the end of the nineteenth century , then abandoned after the construction of the new aqueduct in 1894.
Other old southern aqueducts continued to pour into the Rifolta , but the descent of their waters, no longer having to feed the mill, became a suggestive set of waterfalls.
The Rocca Albornoziana is a fortress located on the top of the Sant'Elia hill overlooking the city of Spoleto . It is the main bulwark of the system of fortifications built by Pope Innocent VI , to militarily strengthen and make the authority of the Church more evident in the territories of central Italy , in view of the now imminent return of the papal see to Rome after the seventy approximately years of stay in Avignon .
The construction works took place between 1363 and 1367 , and were presided over by the Spanish cardinal Egidio Albornoz , under the direction of the Gubbio architect Matteo Gattaponi .
The latter skilfully designed a building that could be both a solid and imposing fortress, but also an elegant and comfortable residence, which was used for this purpose by many illustrious guests.
The structure of the rectangular perimeter, in fact, with four corner towers, is divided into two spaces separated by a median body connected to two other towers: the Cortile delle armi , which occupies the area intended for the troops, and the Cortile d'Onore surrounded from buildings intended for the governors of the city, but where many popes also stayed, including Boniface IX in 1392 and Niccolò V in 1449 during the plague in Rome , as well as Lucrezia Borgia on various occasions . This area, which also housed the administrative offices, is surrounded by a double loggia built, according to Vasari, designed by Bernardo Rossellino , called to Spoleto by Pope Nicholas V. In the center of the courtyard there is a hexagonal well which surmounts a large cistern used for collecting rainwater.
The two courtyards are connected to each other by a frescoed archway between 1572 and 1575 on which the coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII is painted ; on the sides there are representations of six cities of the Papal State : Porto d'Anzio , Perugia , Orvieto , Ripatransone , Spoleto and one last city not yet identified. Through the grand staircase you go up to the main floor; from here a sixteenth-century stone door gives access to the largest room of the Rocca: the Hall of Honour. This environment, which hosted banquets and large ceremonies, was never completed in terms of vaulted ceilings and pictorial decoration. The hall leads to the pinta room , the room located inside the main tower, where the castellan lived. Along the walls there are two pictorial cycles dated between the last decade of the fourteenth century and the first decades of the following century.
After the sixteenth century the fortress began to lose importance so much that, from 1764 , the governors preferred to reside within the city walls . From 1817 the fortress was used as a prison until 1982 .
After years of demanding restoration, in 2007 it was used as the permanent seat of the National Museum of the Duchy of Spoleto .
Inside the fortress are also located the laboratory of diagnostics applied to cultural heritage and the European school of conservation and restoration of ancient books.