Castello Di Monterado

Hospitality is a tradition in our family and is our passion; sharing our home with others brings us great pleasure. This is why we decided to open up our Castello Di Monterado and to give our guests-cum-friends the chance to stay in a place where the past is tangible and the sense of history ever-present.

The castle’s rooms look out over an inviting panorama: the view makes its way over the surrounding hillsides and across the Cesano valley, which rises from the shore of the Adriatic to the peaks of the Appennines.

We relish opening up our ample and spacious rooms and suites to you, the latter richly frescoed in the first years of the 19th century by Corrado Corradi, one of the most famous painters of the Marche region.

Our wish is that you should witness firsthand the most authentic traditions of the Marche, in a setting that is both tranquil and serene. We are profoundly attached to what we call in Italian our terra: our house, the village, our region, this land.

It would be a real pleasure for us to welcome you for what will be an unforgettable holiday in our family residence. May you have a wonderful stay here.

THE HISTORY
Our ancient residence has a long and rich history. Monterado’s origins as a dwelling that sits atop a characteristic Marchese hilltop go back to 13th July 1267.

It was originally built as a fortified town with defensive walls, became part of the Duchy of Urbino thanks to its strategic position looking out over the valley and to the sea, and was taken over by the Della Rovere during the Renaissance period.

In 1742 the village came under the ownership of the Jesuit priests of the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum, who decided to transform the original appearance of the village.

Incorporating the ancient defensive walls and using the whole area – houses and streets – of the little village, they built a grand and imposing palazzo. The estate was conceived as the headquarters of the administration of goods, of textile manufacturing, and of agriculture.

In the early 1700s, the territories of the district of Senigallia, including Monterado, became part of the assets of Napoleon I. Prince Maximilian of Beauharnais, grandson of Giuseppina Bonaparte, fell in love with the place and decided to buy the palazzo and to transform it into a princely residence.

It was he who, on marrying the daughter of Zar Alessandro of Russia, chose to decorate the interior of the building to be ready for his honeymoon. The castle in its present form was designed by the architect Luigi Vanvitelli, the large part of whose works remain today.

From the inner courtyard of the castle you can enter the ancient chapel where weddings and other religious services can still take place today. The glories of the 19th-century frescoes by the artist Corrado Corradi, commissioned by Prince Massimiliano of Beauharnais, are well preserved.

ROOMS & SUITES 
The spacious party room is called the ‘Four Seasons’ room because of the frescoes, linked to the changes in the seasons, which cheerfully decorate the walls.

The four tempera paintings, whose imagery represents the seasonal changes, are contained within floral geometric frames typical of the Napoleonic period. In the rooms, above the entrances, there are images of imperial eagles intersected with burning torches.

THE BREAKFAST
The breakfast room is one of the most beguiling rooms in the castle due to its wealth of frescoes with their stunning colours.

The decoration of the ceiling depicts scenes of a wedding procession taken from the mythological tale of Bacchus and Ariadne. The scene as a whole, incoporating musical instruments, cups of wine, flowers and laurel wreaths, symbolizes festivity.

On the walls, a ring of finely decorated columns, brings out its debt to the classical. The fruit baskets and burning flames, positioned in the half-moon lunettes, represent fertility and vitality.

The floors in Venetian marble, decorated with geometric frames in an array of colours, along with the panoramic terrace with its view of the rolling hills and the sea, add light and sparkle to this refined setting.

A large oval table in the centre of the room makes it an ideal location for special dinners, get-togethers, or business meetings.

THE BILLIARD ROOM
The billiard room, on the ground floor, offers guests the chance to bring out their competitive side with a friendly round or two of this ancient game, whose roots go back to the 15th century.

THE LIBRARY HALL
The richly-stocked library preserves still, on its finely painted 18th-century shelves, numerous objects from the period and timeless volumes. It is an ideal place to spend some quiet time reading, playing cards, or even challenging a friend to a game of chess.

THE OLD KITCHEN
The old castle kitchen boasts a brickwork service block and a large 19th-century fireplace with a traditional wood- burning oven. Today it is used by our family for the pleasure of eating together in surroundings that recall the atmosphere and culinary flavours of long ago.

RELAX THE WOOD
On the hillside where the castle stands is a wood of pine trees, ancient oaks, laurels and viburnums, planted in 1846 by Count Cerasi. Here you will find seven hectares of private parkland, with enticing shaded pathways in which to wander and wonder at nature’s tranquillity.

For some years now the wooded area has been a haven for animals, whether deer, hares, porcupines, pheasants or squirrels. The gardens that surround the palazzo, shaded by giant cedars of Lebanon, are filled with Mediterranean scents, colourful roses, blossoming flower-beds, and citrus trees.

SURROUNDING
Positioned in the heart of Monterado, the castello rises up over the central square, surrounded by old houses and looking out over the village in which the hubbub of daily life goes on now as it has done for centuries.

Rooms: 18

Price: from 107 EUR per night

Source: www.castellodimonterado.it