Rocca of Pierle

The castle rises at the dominion of the homonymous valley, along the SP35 that from the city of Cortona leads to Umbria. Cortona is reachable by following the SS71 Umbro-Casentinese or from the exit Bettolle-Val di Chiana of the motorway A1 Florence-Rome.

Pierle Castle can rightly be counted among the most beautiful and imposing examples of feudal castles in Tuscany. Its secluded location and the long absence of conservation work, however, had for centuries prevented it from emerging from the state of abandonment in which it has lain since the distant year 1587. In recent years, though, things have started to move: the ivy that had engulfed the façade of the keep has been removed, and the watchtower—partly collapsed and at risk of further crumbling—has been rebuilt, with works begun in 2010 and completed, with the dismantling of the scaffolding, in October 2019. Finally, in 2024, the restoration of the keep's façades was also completed, restoring much of the monument's original grandeur.

Pierle was a thorn in the side of the expansionist politics of the city-state of Cortona. The castle is still today located in the municipality of this town. The Podestà of this powerful city had to waste time and wage wars in order to submit the fiefs of the castle, the marquises of Pierle and the counts of Cegliolo, that had here their stronghold. Once subdued, the castle was reinforced and magnified; its current shape goes back to the 13th century and it is a work of the architects Francesco and Raniero Campagna, to defend Cortona from the attacks coming from the territory of the neighbor city of Perugia. In its history no particular battles or important facts of arms took place in Pierle, except for the massacre of some conspirators in the year 1387 carried out by the hands of Uguccio Campagna.

As said above, the fortification lies in ruin, but still today it gives off all its great power and magnificence. The aspect is the classic one of the medieval castle-enclosure. The external circuit of walls, high between 5 and 8 meters, has an irregular shape perfectly adapted to the rocks on which it is erected and is endowed of three powerful square towers: in that one towards the inner valley, situated in correspondence of the main gate of the keep, is opened a postern, a secondary entrance to the inner enclosure, where the foundations of the castle chapel can still be recognized. On the east side is a ramp leading to the double main gate, with carriage and pedestrian access, equipped with a drawbridge.

Inside rises the residential keep-palace: this is the greatest still visible in Tuscany, even though only the external walls remain, and it is placed in the northern part of the courtyard.

On its walls remain only some brackets in stone that supported the bretèche of the main, and only, gate and some nude windows and loopholes. This heart of the castle has a rectangular shape, and from the northeast angle comes out the tall watchtower. Around its walls developed a small village with a beautiful Roman church of the 11th century, reconstructed in 1505, entitled to S.Biagio a Pierle, with a single nave.

The castle was destroyed in 1587 by the armies of the Granduchy of Tuscany Francesco dei Medici in order to prevent the enemies of his lordship from finding shelter here. All the complex is strongly ruined and visible only from the outside.

For information on visits or anything else about the Rocca, please contact directly Ing.Pazzaglia Gabriele on mobile +39 339 4510936 or send an e-mail to info@roccadipierle.it.