Orsini -Colonna Castle – Wikipedia

The Orsini-Colonna Castle It is a castle located in the city of Avezzano, in Abruzzo. In 1490, Gentile Virginio Orsini admitted the fourteenth -century structure built around the remains of the mid -twelfth century to the Renaissance for the Renaissance forms ^[first] . During the sixteenth century Marcantonio Colonna improved and expanded the castle.

Seriously damaged by the 1915 Marsica earthquake was partially restored in 1994.

The origins and the Orsini [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The fourteenth -century castle was built in simple forms around the remains of a tower raised in 1181 by Gentile di Palearia, lord of the Avezzanese fiefdom. The fortification was made to conquer in the second half of the fourteenth century by Francesco Del Balzo, Duke of Andria, as the inhabitants of the place classified clearly in favor of Filippo, prince of Taranto, son -in -law and at the same time enemy of the Duke. The sack of Avezzano was accomplished by the captain of Ventura Ambrogio Visconti who at the head of 12,000 scorides could cross the access doors to the town and soak it violently ^{[first] [2]} .

Subsequently conformed to a fortress by the will of Gentile Virginio Orsini was conceived, as can be read from the inscription placed on the Ogival portal, as a fort To the exit seditious avejani , that is, as a warning from any revolts of the Avezzanese population ^[3] . The manor was in all probability by the military engineer Francesco Di Giorgio Martini, in those years at the service of the Orsini and documented author of the intervention at the nearby triangular castle of Scurcola Marsican ^[4] .

Column [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The Avezzano building in 1546 was at first expanded by Marcantonio Colonna and subsequently transformed into a fortified palace by the winner of the battle of Lepanto ^[5] .

The column, from 1497 onwards, became definitively feudal lords of almost the entire Marsican territory for over three centuries. The administrative structure of Marsica, with the advent of the Bourbons, presented itself divided into two sectors: in the west, the Duchy of Tagliacozzo and the County of Albe opened with the relative baronies of Carsoli, Corvaro and south of Civitella Roveto; The county of Celano with the baronies of Pescina and south of Balsorano extended to the east. The feudal domains remained almost unchanged up to the subversive laws of the feudality of 1806 which caused the loss of feudal rights. The whole area was the scene of strong tensions and quarrels between barons and bishops, especially for issues of appointment of ecclesiastics to the benefits and chaplains. Moreover, usurpations, interests, privileges, supremacies and disputes of all kinds, unleashed hard diatribes among the lords of the place, almost always aimed at removing the “Iura Civitatis” from the municipalities ^[6] .

Thanks to the intercession of Marcantonio Colonna already during the 16th century, in some clubs and underground of the castle, the theatrical activity took place.

In 1722 the Lord of Avezzano, Fabrizio II Colonna, arrived in his baronial palace, accompanied by his wife Caterina Zefirina Salviati. As for the ceremonial, he was welcomed by the vassals of the countryside with ” Registrations placed above the arches erected in the streets in honor of the prince, the Latin and Greek poems and the other writings composed on the occasion of the event “. The administrators of Avezzano, as a sign of homage, gave him gifts of all kinds and were received in the castle from 17 September to 15 October of the same year ^[7] .

The castle remained in the hands of the Colonna family until the abolition of the fiefdoms of 1806. In this period the castle of the castle was widely used, with probable side entrance in the ditch that the lords column, generous over the centuries with the Avezzanese, granted citizens ^[8] .
The English traveler and artist Edward Lear in his travel diary, entitled Illustrated Excursions in Italy , published in London in 1846, he reported a manor design thus accompanying the texts of the work that reported the reports of his trips to Abruzzo faced between July 1843 and October 1844 ^[9] .

Decadence [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The manor passed after the feudal subversion to the lans of the oak who kept him until 1905 when, with a deed of the notary Pietro Vannisanti in Rome, the deputy mayor of Avezzano purchased him, Francesco Spina, who used a part of it to the hotel and The South side was rented to the Royal Normal School “Matilde di Savoja”, while the other premises were used to host the Court of Avezzano.

Spina also rented part of the Renaissance Park called the Cadastre “Garden of San Francesco” as a ride for horses.

“The tavern inside the earth” was built in the moat in the mid -sixteenth century and was in activity until the disastrous earthquake of Marsica of 1915.

The castle was declared in 1902 monumental building worthy of being preserved by the Ministry of Education ^[ten] .
Francesco Spina began in 1912 the interventions for the removal of the Colonnese additions by breaking down the Lodge of Marcantonio Colonna but for economic reasons he did not go further. The castle was destroyed by the shock of 13 January 1915 detected at 07:52. The structure collapsed from the first floor up and then the sixteenth -century additions of the column were lost.

The castle before and after 1915 [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

In Avezzano the resident population was just over 13,000 units. In the early twentieth century, the town had just lost the function of a fortified village, the falling medieval perimeter walls have been demolished.

The main monuments were in addition to the Orsini Castle, the nearby church and the Carabinieri barracks. Further far, inside the original urban nucleus, the municipal square stood with the church of San Bartolomeo. The municipal villa and the Torlonia palace with an adjoining park were not very distant.

The castle presented itself in perfectly preserved forms, so much so that the mayor had used a large part of it as a hotel for tourists from the Italian aristocracy. The manor had all four perimeter towers with the three marked sides, and the battle roofs were adorned with a roofing with circular tiles, similar to those of a pagoda. At the center of the body there was the noble residence of the column with the interior frescoes of the sixteenth century. In fact, the facade showed a third sector, precisely occupied by the residence, which on the right, compared to the facade, owned a higher and more slender turret of the four perimeter, with classic arches pothing, and also with the characteristic roof tile covering coverage to Pagoda.

With the 1915 earthquake, the castle lost the roof levels of all columns, reduced to stumps; The nearby church of San Giovanni was gutted, with the loss of most of the bell tower. Palazzo Torlonia also collapsed almost completely, and the collegiate church of San Bartolomeo, not yet cathedral, ruined completely. Only a part of the first level of the facade remained standing. The church of San Giovanni was reconstructed in the same place as the original building. Of the Collegiate of San Bartolomeo only a column of the portal remained standing, on which a commemorative plaque was engraved, in memory of the tragedy of 1915. The one that since 1924 became a cathedral, the new church of San Bartolomeo, also known by the name of Cathedral of the Marsi, was reconstructed in the heart of the contemporary city in Piazza Risorgimento.

The manor was restored in the “Orsini phase” until the Second World War, and the municipal administration seemed to take some steps in this regard. Three allied bombs fell in 1944, during the bombing prolonged for several months on the city, decreed the transition to ruin ^[11] .

In the 1950s, the mayor Antonio Iatosti authorized some Roma families to reside in Avezzano allowing them to settle temporarily within the site. Later, not without controversy, the municipal administration used some spaces of the castle with a specific ordinance as a refuge for dogs ^[twelfth] .

Restoration [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The castle was partially restored in two filming in the 1960s thanks to the engineer Loreto Orlandi, manager of the local civil genius. A campaign of archaeological excavations carried out in the seventies led to the discovery of the bases of internal walls and part of the underground premises.

It therefore became space for painting and Arena exhibitions for film projections in the seventies and eighties, was further restored in 1994 on a project by the architect Alessandro Del Bufalo, who created the auditorium by inserting an internal self -supporting structure ^{[13] [14]} .

Facade [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The facade of the castle is flat and outlined in two levels by the Redondone that runs along the wall and the towers. The central portal is rectangular and is decorated on the sides of the door by two rows of minute pyramids, and more outside by two centers in bas -relief, in size of man, two bears faced, of which a sword, symbols of the family Orsini. The column, coat of arms of the column principles surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Toson d’oro is located in the center. The symbols are surmounted laterally by a plaque containing the companies of accounts and dukes in the socket of the feud of Avezzano ^[15] .

The second level was marked by two orders of two windows, with a plant above the portal. On the south side there was the largest number of windows and, on top, the loggia. Around there is the dried drum that surrounds the whole castle, the portal is connected to the mainland by a drawbridge. On the left of the facade, up to the focal point of the center, the decoration in Guelph Merlatura and Beccatelli remains, of which a good part was lost with the 1915 earthquake.

A second portal of access to the facade is surmounted by a plaque with writings the companies of the Colonna family in the socket of Avezzano.

The four towers [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The four perimeter towers of the castle are largely kept. Originally they were in three levels, divided by frames, but after the large earthquake only the tower of the facade on the left preserves part of the ornamental masonry with Beccatelli and Merlatures. The towers are circular.

Internal [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The interior went almost completely destroyed with the 1915 earthquake. Originally it presented the upper floor, namely the noble residence of the column. Immediately after the central entrance there are the remains of the perimeter of the XII century tower, consisting of mighty blocks, and the columns of the real Pozzo ^[15] .

The upper floor hosted the modern and contemporary art collection of the Pinacoteca ^[16] . On the east side of the castle you can access the second portal.

Garden [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Garden, vineyard and vegetable garden were made around the castle by Marcantonio Colonna. The Renaissance garden that occupied a large part of the moat was damaged by the 1915 Marsica earthquake and above all by the bombings of the Second World War that altered its environments. During the twentieth century, the park of Rimembranza, so called in memory of the 33 martyrs of Capistrello ^[17] , has been partially recovered with the planting of over fifty coffularbard plants and bossing hedges ^{[14] [18]} . In 2019, plants replacement works with species of country Acer and Prunus “Kanzan”, regeneration of hedges and moat, construction of the turf and water and lighting systems ended ^[19] .

In front of the castle, a monument made by the Avezzano Rotary Club is dedicated to the general of the 33rd “Acqui” Infantry Division Antonio Gandin and the martyrs of Kefalonia ^[20] ; Two plates remember the figures of Ernesto Pomilio, art critic, and Melvin Jones, founder of the Lions Clubs International ^[21] .

• Raffaele Czeupiara, Orsini-Colonna Castle , Avezzano, of Censo Editore, 1998.
• Fulvio D’amore, Marsica between the viceregno and the advent of the Bourbons (1504-1793). Public life, conflicts and revolts , Circle, Adelmo Polla Editore, 1998.
• Raffaello Di Domenico, The Orsini Colonna Castle , Municipal administration of Avezzano, 2002.