Castello Cercemaggiore

Ancient family heraldry on the castle's iron gates.

Cercemaggiore Castle is located in Cercemaggiore, Italy.

History

Cercemaggiore Castle was built during the Norman era (1066-1154 A.D.) by the feudal lords da Ponte, the first lord of Cercemaggiore appearing to have been one Nebulone da Ponte I. Some records suggest his presence in the region as early as the 11th Century. At the beginning of the 13th century, Ruggero da Ponte (or da Busso) lost the fiefdom and as the last descendant of the da Ponte line, the property reverted to the Imperial Crown and then later, to a number of other feudal families, including the Molise family.

Some radical restoration work seems to have been carried out in 1332 based on a date inscribed into a stone slab uncovered during work carried out at the castle in the 1950s, however, it is currently lost.

By 1427 Antonio Molise lived in the castle as feudal lord of Cercemaggiore. He would be succeeded by his son Paolo Molise and in 1478, Paolo's only daughter, Giovannella, married Alberico Carafa, Duke of Ariano and Count of Marigliano. The Carafas were already tightly connected to the fief of Cercemaggiore, as well as to the church and convent of St. Maria della Libera, of which they were significant benefactors. In fact, they repaired the serious damage the town — including the castle — sustained in the disastrous earthquake of 1456 that killed 40 people. It was during these repairs that Carafa expanded the castle.

The Duke of Ariano was eventually succeeded by Marquess Doria who acquired the fiefdom and castle in 1652. The Dorias remained feudal lords of Cercemaggiore until 1813. That year, the castle was purchased by Marquess Don Nicola Vulcano of Naples. Through his descendants, the Mastellone family, the title deed to the castle would pass to the Felice family of Cercemaggiore in 1905, due to the death of owner Francesco Rocco in 1903. Although the Doria families’ rule had seen the castle further renovated and embellished, the structure had fallen slowly into ruin near the end of the 19th Century. Then in 1952, it was purchased back from the Felice family by a descendant of the Rocco family, Father Giovanni Antonio Rocco; by 1954 the estate had been completely restored and put to use as an orphanage for girls.

Palazzo baronale di Cercemaggiore.

20th century

After the death of the marquess Vulcano the castle slowly fell into ruin. That is, until 1952, when it was acquired by a Roman Catholic priest, Father Giovanni Antonio Rocco, a Mastellone descendant born at the castle on April 28, 1913. He would spend the first decade of his life growing up on the estate until 1925, when he left home to attend secondary school abroad.

By 1952 he had returned to Cercemaggiore, bought the castle and completely renovated it, converting it into The Institute for the Orphans of the Mater Orphanorum — an orphanage for young girls — with the blessing of the archbishop of Milan.

Today the castle retains it's grandeur and makes for an imposing display from atop a massive rock. Visible from anywhere in town are the circular tower at the closing point of the—mostly gone now—original city walls of the town. Moving closer up the hill one can make out the roofline of the castrum and the remains of a square tower to the north-west that was partially demolished in previous renovations. Inside, the ancient barrel vaulted cellar, the portal above which P. Rocco had the Doria family crest placed, and the stables (also barrel vaulted) with their small wolf's mouth windows, remain.

By the dawn of the 17th century, the castle had been transformed from military stronghold into country residence for feudal lords. From the Doria era, a bed canopy is still intact, draped from a ceiling painted in 1752 by Nicola Falocco of Oratino. A beautiful stone shelf/console on a column and a gilded wooden door (recently removed) are a few more examples of the artworks, decor, and antique furniture warehoused at the manor for half a millennium.

In the large, open spaces of the courtyard, an imposing staircase rises on an arch, leading to the upper terrace and overlooking a series of beautiful doors and windows with stone jambs for access to the various residential apartments. Elements of the upper floors obliterated in the mid-1950s restoration process are attested to by traces of paintings still present in the modern attic of the central hall, along with some never before explored underground environments on the northern side of the complex (currently walled up) only briefly glimpsed in the early-1990s during the installation of a modern boiler.

In recent years, the castle doesn't seem to have been an object of particular protection, otherwise it would be impossible to explain the decidedly useless and damaging 21st Century “remodeling” of the larger complex that had nothing to do with conservation of the site. In 2010, the base of the facade overlooking the square of the mother church was plastered over without any defined reason, aesthetic or otherwise. The same fate befell one of the interior facades of the upper courtyard in 2011 during repairs to the roof of the north wing—the “Marquis” apartments. At that time, other additions were made but as of 2014, the castle has returned to use as a private residence.