Fronzola Castle
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The walls of the castle, almost invisible, in the
wood.
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The poor, ruined and abandoned rests of Fronzola Castle can be found not far
from the inhabited area of Poppi. The only signaling is present, even if almost illegible,
hardly on the left of the street that gone out from the centre of Poppi . The ruins are
reachable following a road in the wood starting around 100 meters on the right
after the entry of the golf club of the city.
Fronzola, known also in the past as Fronzole, was one of the many castles of
the counts of the Guidi family present in the Casentino Valley. In the Middle
Age their power was equal, if not greater, of that of the near castle of
Poppi. The only historical date that is recorded about
the castle is the year of 1440, when it was levelled to the ground from the
Florentine army.
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The church of Fronzola between the ruins of the castle. |
Unfortunately from the today's miserable rests, totally covered by the
vegetation, is difficult to have an idea of the structure of the castle, despite
from their position to crown of a hill of 570 meters high, we can deduce easily
the great strategic importance of it. Our days remain standing only a portion
of the enclosure of the keep, inside which is better not to walk for danger
of collapses. Characteristic and well conserved is instead the chapel that originally
was to be inside the external walls that surrounded the outer ward. Under
the core of the fortification rise a group of houses, in large part abandoned,
that form a classical medieval suburb. Due to the the complex state of
conservation I don't feel myself to recommend its visit unless you are
not attracted by the idea to reach a place that in the Middle Age let kneel
to the its strength almost all the near cities, this can be deduced by the local
motto 'Quando Fronzola fronzolava Poppi e Bibbiena s'inchinavan.'
(when Fronzola 'fronzolava' Poppi and Bibbiena was bent, but its
intraducible!)
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