Forte di San Leo

The Fortress of San Leo is a castle on the border of the  Romagna and  Marche  famous as the death-place of Count Cagliostro. It contains a museum.

It was one of the palaces owned by Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza and was a fortified, palatial retreat.

It played a large part in the 1991-film Hudson Hawk as the fictional castle of Leonardo da Vinci.

History
The first fortification on the top of the mountain was built by the Romans. In the Middle Ages it was bitterly fought over by the Byzantines, Goths, Franks and Lombards. Between 961 and 963 Berengar II, the last king of the Lombard Kingdom of Italy, was besieged by Otto I of Saxony. Around the middle of the eleventh century the Counts of Montecopiolo came to Montefeltro, the ancient name of San Leo, from which they took the name and title. In the second half of the fourteenth century the Malatesta were able to storm the fortress, alternately possessing it with the Montefeltro, until the middle of the fifteenth century. In 1441 the young Federico da Montefeltro made an enterprising climb up the fort. To keep up with the new military techniques he had the fortress rebuilt, entrusting the task to the engineer Sienese Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

The new structure allowed for a dynamic counter-offensive, providing for cross-fire. The fortress sides were equipped with artillery and the access points were rendered unreachable by enemy fire thanks to military outposts.

In 1502, Cesare Borgia, with the support of Pope Alexander VI, took possession of the fortress. At the death of the pope, in 1503, Guidobaldo da Montefeltro took possession of his dominions. In 1516 the Florentine troops, supported this time by Pope Leo X and guided by Antonio Ricasoli, penetrated the city and commandeered the fort.

From 1527 until the devolution to the Papal State from the Duchy of Urbino in 1631, San Leo belonged to the Della Rovere. With the new ownership, the fortress acted as a prison, with the military accommodation acting as cells. Among the inmates were Felice Orsini and occultist and Freemason Alessandro Cagliostro. In 1906 the fortress ceased to be a prison and for eight years, until 1914, it hosted a "compagnia di disciplina".

In the period of Italia Unita, the municipality of San Leo belonged to the province of Marche (Province of Pesaro and Urbino), until 15 August 2009 when it was separated together with six other municipalities of the Valmarecchia, following the outcome of a referendum held on 17 and 18 December 2006.

Currently the rooms of the castle house a museum and an art gallery in arms.

Description
In the fortress there are two distinct parts: the keep, with its square turrets and the gothic entrance is the older part and residential wing; and the more recent round towers and massive corbeled wall that connects them. The two towers, the wall, and the keep surround the so-called Place d'Armes.

The area is dotted with rocky peaks that rise steeply from the sea cliffs. On each of these peaks, the ruins of a castle or fort recall a tumultuous past. To the visitor who walks up the Romagna plain, the City-Fortress appears as a huge shield of high smooth rock. To whoever comes down from the mountain, it appears like a ship with the bow to the East, the bell tower like a mast, and the handful of houses scattered around.

Links and references

 * Photographs of the village, castle and museum