Gradara - San Leo

The fortresses of Gradara and San Leo, on the border between the Marche region and Romagna, are a major attraction for tourists visiting this part of central Italy.

Gradara Castle was built between the 11^th and 15^th centuries and was the scene of continuing conflict between the Malatesta and Montefeltro families before falling under control of the Sforza family. However its place in history has been secured thanks not so much to these warring families but to the great poet Dante. In the Divine Comedy, in the fifth Canto in the Inferno, he recounts the tragic love affair between Paolo and Francesca, which stands as a timeless symbol for generations of lovers. Their passionate affair took place here at Gradara Castle and their chamber in the castle still has a melancholy atmosphere which remains just as poignant today.

The Fortress of San Leo was built in the Middle Ages and it was here at the end of the first Millennium, that Germanic rulers gave birth to the Holy Roman Empire. The fortress itself was enlarged in the 16^th Century by the great Siena military architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini under Duke Federico II da Montefeltro. It was here, in this impregnable castle, that the famous adventurer Giuseppe Balsamo, better known as Count Cagliostro, lived out his last days of imprisonment. The facts and legends surrounding the life of this extraordinary alchemist, doctor, magician and freemason are hard to separate. It ended with his sentence to death by the Holy Inquisition for heresy. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment which he served here at San Leo. But this was to bring him little comfort. He died a long agonising death, imprisoned first in the castle's so-called Treasury Room and then confined in the 'pozzetto', where he died after four long years, refusing to take the sacrament.