Orsini-Colonna Castle
| Orsini-Colonna Castle | ||
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 Orsini-Colonna Castle |
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| Creation time : | 14.-15. century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | Ruin, partially restored | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Avezzano | |
| Geographical location | 42 ° 1 '39.3 " N , 13 ° 25' 33.3" E | |
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The Castello Orsini-Colonna is a castle in the town of Avezzano in Abruzzo . In 1490, Gentile Virginio Orsini had the 14th century building, which was built around the remains of the 12th century medieval tower, adapted to the forms of the Renaissance . During the 16th century, Marcantonio Colonna had the castle restored and expanded, and in 1902 it was declared a national monument.
During the Avezzano earthquake in 1915 , the Orsini-Colonna Castle was badly damaged and partially restored in the 1990s.
history
Origins and the Orsinis
The castle was built in the 14th century in a simple form around the remains of a tower that Gentile da Palearia , a lord of the County of Albe , which was conquered by Francescco del Balzo , Count of Andria , had built in 1181. It was built by Gentile Virginio Orsini as a fortress, as can be read in an inscription above the pointed arch portal , as a fortress Ad exitum seditionis Avejani (German: as a warning to the population of Avezzano of possible unrest). The residence was probably designed by the military engineer Francesco di Giorgio Martini , when he was in the service of the Orsinis and there is evidence that he was involved in the construction of the neighboring castle in Scurcola Marsicana with its triangular floor plan.
The Colonnas
Marcantonio Colonna had the building in Avezzano expanded in 1546 and then converted into a fortified palace for the winner of the naval battle of Lepanto .
The Colonna were the latest from 1504 for three centuries the masters of almost the entire marsicanischen territory. Therefore, with the rise of the Bourbons , the administrative area of the County of Marsi was divided into two parts: in the west the state of Tagliacozzo and Albe, which remained almost intact until the abolition of feudal rule, and in the east the County of Celano and the Baronate Pescina . It should be pointed out that throughout the area there has been a great deal of tension and disputes between the barons and the bishops over questions relating to the appointment of clergymen to benefices and pastors. In addition, usurpations, interests, privileges, supremacy and deals of all kinds sparked hard disputes, including beatings, between local rulers, almost always aimed at depriving communities of civil rights.
Thanks to the intervention of Marcantonio Colonna during the 16th century, theatrical activity developed in some places and cellars of the castle
In 1722 the Seigneur of Avezzano, Don Fabrizio Colonna , arrived at his baron palace, accompanied by his wife, Donna Caterina Salvati . As in a ceremony, he was greeted by the vassals in the country with "inscriptions on the arches erected in the streets in honor of the prince, Latin and Greek poems and other writings created for his arrival". The administrators of Avezzano offered him gifts of all kinds as a token of their admiration and were received in the castle from September 17th to October 15th of the same year.
The castle remained in the hands of the Colonna family until the abolition of feudalism in 1806. During this time, an underground theater in the castle was often used, presumably with a side entrance in the moat, which the Colonna generously gave to the citizens of the Avezzans over the centuries. The English visitor and artist Edward Lear brought back a drawing of the mansion in his travel diary "Illustrated Excursions in Italy", which was published in London in 1846 , and accompanied the texts of the work that reported on his travels to Abruzzo he between July 1843 and October 1844.
The decline
1806, the castle fell to the family Lante della Rovere , she got to 1905 and then certification by the notary Pietro Vannisanti in Rome to the Deputy Mayor of Avezzano, Francesco Spina , sold, which took part as a hotel, the page for Via Fucino rented to the royal school “Matilda di Savoja” and the rest to the court of Avezzano.
Spina also rented a part of the Renaissance park, which is named “Orto di San Francesco” in the cadastre, as a horse stable.
The "Osteria dentro la Terra", which was built in the moat in the middle of the 16th century and can still be seen in a fully functional condition in the photo before the earthquake that struck Avezzano on January 13, 1915, was peculiar.
Francesco Spina began demolishing the annexes to the Colonnas in 1912 by having the loggia dismantled by Marcantonio, but this was discontinued for economic reasons. The castle was destroyed by the tremors on January 13, 1915 at 7.52 a.m. The building collapsed from the first floor onwards and so the additions to the Colonnas from the 16th century were lost.
The castle before and after 1915
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A little over 13,000 people lived in Avezzano. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city had lost the function of a fortress city because the medieval city wall had been torn down.
The most important sights were the Castello Orsini-Colonna, the neighboring church of San Giovanni Decollato and the barracks of the Carabinieri. A little further away in the center of the old town was the town square with the church of San Bartolomeo . Nearby were the town hall and the Palazzo Torlonia with the adjacent park.
The castle was in perfect condition, so that the mayor used a large part of it as a hostel for guests from the Italian aristocracy. The castle had four corner towers with three prominent sides, and the crenellated roofs were decorated with round tiles similar to those of a pagoda . In the middle of the structure was the main residence of the Colonnas with frescoes from the 16th century. The facade showed a third section, exactly where the residence was, which on the right-hand side, facing the facade, had a taller, slender tower that was four times its perimeter and had classic, arched openings; it too had the typical “pagoda roof”.
With the earthquake of 1915, the castle lost the top floor of all towers, which were reduced to stumps; the interior of the neighboring church of San Giovanni Decollato collapsed completely, a large part of its tower was lost. The Palazzo Torlonia collapsed almost completely and the church of San Bartolomeo , which was not yet a cathedral, was completely ruined. Only part of the first floor of the facade was preserved. The Johanneskirche was rebuilt in the same place in its original state. Only one pillar of the portal remained of the Bartholomäuskirche, in which a plaque commemorating the tragedy of 1915 was inserted. The new St. Bartholomew's Church, today the Cattedrale dei Marsi , was built in 1924 in the city center, on Piazza Risorgimento .
The castle proved to be restorable during the Orsinis phase up until World War II and the city council seemed to be taking some steps in that direction. Three bombs fell in 1944 during the bombardment that lasted several months in the city.
In the 1950s, Mayor Antonio Iatosti allowed some Roma families to live in Avezzano and allowed them to settle inside the ruined castle for the moment. As a result, the city administration used some rooms of the castle as a refuge for dogs with a special ordinance - without this being to be understood as polemical.
The restoration
The castle was partially restored in two stages in the 1960s thanks to the engineer Loreto Orlandi , head of the local Genio Civile . An archaeological excavation campaign in the 1970s brought the foundations of the inner walls and parts of the underground rooms to light.
In the 1970s and 1980s spaces were created for painting exhibitions and film screenings, and in 1994 the interiors were restored under the direction of the architect Alessandro del Bufalo , who created the auditorium by inserting a self-supporting structure.
description
facade
The facade of the castle is simple and provided on two levels with protruding cornices that run along the perimeter walls and towers. The main portal is rectangular and decorated on both sides with two rows of tiny pyramids , and on the outside with two life-size figures in half-relief, a jumping boar and a bear wielding a sword , the family symbols of the Orsinis and the Colonnas. In the middle, however, is the coat of arms of Prince Colonna. To the side of the symbols there is a plaque with the heroic deeds of the Dukes Orsini when they took the Avezzano fief.
On the first floor there are two pairs of windows and a window in the middle above the main entrance. On the south side there are the largest number of windows and at the top the loggia. There is also the dry moat that surrounds the entire castle; the gate is connected to the mainland by a drawbridge . On the left side of the facade up to the focal point in the middle, the decoration in Guelph battlements and consoles , a large part of which was lost in the 1915 earthquake, has been preserved.
A second plaque is placed above a second entrance gate in the facade, on which the heroic deeds of the Colonna family when they took Avezzano are described.
The four towers
Most of the four corner towers of the castle have been preserved. Originally they had three floors, separated by cornices, but after the great earthquake only part of the wall decorations on the tower on the left side of the facade remained with consoles and battlements. The towers have a round cross-section.
inside rooms
The interior of the castle was almost completely destroyed in the great earthquake. Originally the main residence of the Colonnas was housed on the upper floor. The collection of modern and contemporary art was exhibited in part of the rooms. On one side of the castle you can enter through the second gate.
garden
Marcantonio Colonna had the Parco della Rimembranza (Park of Remembrance), so named in honor of the 33 martyrs of Capistrello, built in the castle. The Renaissance garden, which filled a large part of the moat, was damaged by the 1915 earthquake and also by the bombing during World War II, which changed the area. In the course of the 20th century, the park was partially restored by planting another 50 hackberry trees and box hedges . In 2019 the replacement of these plants with field maples and Japanese flowering cherries , the renewal of the hedges and the moat, the planting of the lawn and the installation of irrigation and lighting systems were completed.
In front of the castle, two signs commemorate Ernesto Pomilio , an art critic, and Melvin Jones , the founder of the Lions Club .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Elisio Palmieri: Castello Orsini rimane l'unica testimonianza dell'antichità . Il Centro. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
- ↑ Elenco degli edIERTi Monumentali in Italia . Ministerio della Pubblica Istruzione. 1902. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
- ↑ Raffaele Cola Pietra: Castello Orsini-Colonna . Di Censo, Avezzano 1998. p. 40.
- ↑ Castello Orsini Colonna di Avezzano . Terre Marsicane. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
- ↑ Castello Orsini-Colonna . Abruzzo region. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- ^ Fulvio d'Amore: La Marsica tra il viceregno e l'avvento dei Borboni (1504-1793). Vita pubblica, conflitti e rivolte . Adelmo Polla, Cerchio 1998. pp. 9-10.
- ^ Fulvio d'Amore: La Marsica tra il viceregno e l'avvento dei Borboni (1504-1793). Vita pubblica, conflitti e rivolte . Adelmo Polla, Cerchio 1998. p. 48.
- ↑ Raffaello di Domenico: Il Castello Orsini Colonna . Amministrazione comunale di Avezzano, Avezzano 2002. p. 28.
- ^ Edward Lear, Il castello di Avezzano . Abruzzo region. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- ^ Avezzano: castello Orsini-Colonna . MondiMedievali. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- ↑ Raffaello di Domenico: Il Castello Orsini Colonna . Amministrazione comunale di Avezzano, Avezzano 2002. p. 60.
- ↑ Raffaello di Domenico: Il Castello Orsini Colonna . Amministrazione comunale di Avezzano, Avezzano 2002. pp. 62-64.
- ↑ a b La rocca Orsini ad Avezzano . Inabruzzo. July 16, 2011. Accessed March 5, 2020.
- ↑ Leo Strozzieri: Pinacoteca d'arte moderna . Terre Marsicane. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ↑ Parco del Castello, in arrivo alberi nuovi ... L'assessore all'ambiente Presutti: Avezzano avrà il suo Hanami . Comune di Avezzano. May 23, 2018. Accessed March 6, 2020.
- ↑ Castello Orsini, un nuovo parco in memoria dei 33 martiri . Il Centro. August 19, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ^ Parco del castello, a fine mese l'avvio dei lavori di riqualificazione . Comune di Avezzano. September 13, 2018. Accessed March 6, 2020.
- ^ Il Lions Club Avezzano inaugura la targa dedicata a Melvin Jones . Terre Marsicane. May 12, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
Web links
- Orsini Castle, Avezzano . Cultura Italia. Retrieved March 6, 2020.