Ruins and Nature - Restoration of the Cantagallo Castle
In the Santerno Valley, over a hill which dominates the landscape, there are the rests of the Cantagallo Castle. Abandoned since the XVI century, it remains as a remembrance of ancient turmoils, which degradation and neglet are trying to erase.
The master thesis project in restoration was purposely oriented to enhance the castle and make it usable for visits and local historical lessons.
Made in collaboration with Simone Ferraioli
Its origins are still unknown because of the lack of documents, now lost in the centuries, however we can say that it had its own owners, the Cantagallo family, and it had an indipendent course of history untied from the power of the Alidosi Family of Castel del Rio.
The first members of Cantagallo family obtained the castle from Maghinardo Pagani de' Susinana in 1302 and inhabited there to defend themselves and to control their surrouding territory, until 1434, year in which Guidantonio Manfredi conquered the castle, kicking its owners.
The castle was considered as a "rocha fortissima" and maybe thanks to that, it became the den of Ramazzotto de' Ramazzotti in 1523, after a harsh defeat he had. He inhabited the castle until 1534, when he had to run away, hunted by his subjects, taking refuge in the Appennino Tosco-Romagnolo.
Since then the castle was abandoned and was discovered only three century after, by the painter/art director Romolo Liverani, who drew in two watercolor tables the rests of the fortification.
Throughout the centuries the castle has built an intrinsic bond with nature, which nowadays it's indissoluble.
The castle has never received any conservation intervention and results in an advanced state of deterioration. Furthermore nobody, before us, has never done a proper study on the artifact, leaving the castle wrapped in mistery and unknown to the people.
The aim of this work, so, has been to obtain a first survey of the artifact and to propose a project of enhancement and conservation of the rests of the Cantagallo Castle, which can permit a secure fruition, without altering the strong landscape connotation and following the limits imposed by the site, with the intention to give back to the community an unique artifact, forgotten for such a long time.
