Castello dei Malatesta di Verucchio

The western side of the approach to Verucchio’s Malatesta fortress is guarded by the Torrione della SS. Trinità, a hexagonal bastion of stone and brick built for Sigismondo Malatesta. Its angled wall and a low door, the exit of a spiral staircase, are characteristic of the pragmatic defensive architecture of the period. The original entrance was once protected by a moat, now filled, beyond which lies a first courtyard formed by the curtain wall and the baronial palace.

Inside, the guardroom retains its 17th-century wooden beam ceiling, while two weathered stone tablets record Sigismondo’s work in 1449 and a later Barberini restoration in 1597. The armoury, its ceiling once painted (faint traces remain), leads to a study with frescoed decoration and then to the archive, still furnished in period style. The great hall, now an archaeological museum, was built as a theatre in the 1700s and later dismantled. Outside, the cistern courtyard holds a large brick-vaulted underground reservoir, and on the Rimini side, vestiges of the Torre S. Andrea are still visible.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.