Castello di Montegiove

Towering over my village is a beautiful castle which has been owned for four centuries by generations of the Marquis Misciatelli family.

The castle at Montegiove is without  doubt one of the oldest castles in Umbria, originally the family seat of the Counts of Marsciano.  According to some sources, the castle was built on the site of a pre-existing settlement occupied originally by a shrine to Jupiter Elicius, dating from pre-Roman times. Over the centuries, this shrine became a fortified place before the castle was built in 1281 by Count Raniero IV, when the family moved from Lombardy to Umbria. Count Raneiro made a formal request to the Bishop of Orvieto to build an Oratory in Montegiove and so block by block the castle was erected with impressive walls, a keep, towers , a moat and a drawbridge, with only one means of access and surrounded by forests of oak and chestnut trees.

Today the Castle of Montegiove is very well preserved, impressive still with its stone walls and moat, circular corner tower , keep and reveals . Above the door is the family coat of arms and inside there is a large courtyard with a central well, battlements and a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Angelina, built in the early ‘900 by Marquis Lorenzo Misciattelli.  The current Marquis, named this ancestor, lives in the castle with his half Danish family and runs a thriving winery and 1200 hectare estate with Olive yards and a big cattle of Chianina cows.

The beautiful garden of La Scarzuola is a half hour walk from Podere del Buongustaio and is a mystical and interesting place . On the grounds of the former Franciscan monastery architect Tomaso Buzzi created in the ’60s – ’70s his idea of ​​an ideal city in neo- mannerist style , including seven theaters in conjunction with elements of symbolism , allegories , astronomy , magic and mazes. It’s an exciting, fantastic and magical place and  almost surreal.