The Rocca Abbaziale

The castle, called "Rocca abbaziale", is a massive medieval edifice largely rebuilt in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is in the highest point of the old medieval town in control of a vivacious and restless people.
Equipped with fortifications, enriched with rooms and apartments and a little church, it was the residence of the Abbots of Santa Scholastica.

Rocca Abbaziale

The "Rocca abbaziale" included the residence of the cardinals.
In the mid-1400's, the Pope, Callisto III, dismissed the Abbot and nominated a Commander, a sort of feudal pope, with temporary powers over the territory.

The various commanders that followed undertook further works, among which the fortified quadrangular tower. Under Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) lived Vannozza De Captaneis, his lover, and there were born the two most famous Borgia: his children Cesare (1475) and Lucrezia (1480).
Pius VI who was abbot of the monastery for many years before his elevation to the papal chair, enlarged and modified it into a stately mansion, but from the outside the Rocca retains its medieval fortified appearance.