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Before entering Tolentino, just 7 kilometers from the center, you can admire the majestic and suggestive Castello della Rancia rebuilt by the master Andrea di Como in the century. XIV on the structures of a pre-existing Cistercian abbey. Quadrangular in shape, it still retains the crenellated walls reinforced by three corner towers. The keep is 30 meters high and consists of four floors, of which the first three are cross vaults. On the second floor, equipped with a large fireplace and reachable via a spiral stone staircase, was the lodge's accommodation. The basement of the keep, illuminated by two high wolf-mouth slits, was once used as a prison as indicated by the large iron rings fixed to the walls. On the first floor, another portico flanks a large hall, probably the part of the castle that served as a residence. The courtyard leads to a baroque chapel built by the Jesuits.
It was a place of battles: apart from two clashes of little historical importance in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Castello della Rancia is closely linked to the victory of the Austrians over the brave and unfortunate Gioacchino Murat in 1815.
Source: https://www.turismo.marche.it/it-it/Cosa-vedere/Attrazioni/Castello-della-Rancia/6198