The Lords of Brunforte were the feudal lords of that valley that on one side goes towards Ascoli and on the other side leads to Camerino. Their power and possessions were threatened by the continuous expansion of the Municipality of San Ginesio on the one hand and by the growing affirmation of the autonomy of the Sarnano Castle on the other, which was an integral part of their possessions. It dates back to the time of Manfredi and the Vicar of King Manfredi, Percivalle Doria, the first acquisition of San Ginesio to the detriment of the Brunforte possessions.
In 1260 the Castle of Colonnalta is given as a gift to San Ginesio for the loyalty to the Holy See shown at the time of King Manfredi. E’ just a first step. The sale of the castle, of which now only the ruin of a tower can be seen and which at the time supervised the passage into the Pieca valley, is perfected on 3 September 1330.
The fortress of the castle of Colonnata, now returned to light in an excellent way and of great strategic and military interest for over two centuries, will gradually lose its importance and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are full of causes and conflicts between the Ginesian administration and the inhabitants of Rocca, heirs of the ancient castle-fortress, for claims of autonomy enjoyed by them and for the rights to graze and wood on Mount Colonnato and Ragnolo.
In 1762 Paolo Riccomanni can write that "the antiquity of this castle is recognized by its stronghold formed by large semi-columns all walled up and incorporated into the strong walls of it with a very strong portcullis door, worked in ancient and Roman use with lime and sand, still standing existing although abandoned ", while in the 1846 Gaetano Moroni in vol. XL of his well-known Dictionary of erudition recalls that "the Camerinesi removed all the remains of the Ragnola fortress already existing in the territory", in fact, the exact location of which is not known today, while "you can still see grandiose remains" of the fortress of Colonnato, "That dominating the castle was always held by the most equipped and secure external prop of the ginesini".
As proof of this, you can read the annotation on the back of the parchment that enshrines in 1330 the passage of Colonnato from the Brunforte to San Ginesio, where an eighteenth-century hand wrote about the document: "To be diligently preserved because it is the foundation for guaranteeing our mountains against the Sarnanese and Collonaltese". The castle church was not missing, dedicated to S. Andrea, which is certified starting from 1300 but now decaying in the first half of the nineteenth century, located on a hill not far from the current village of Rocca in a southerly direction.
Information:
Arch. Giuseppe GENTILI
Tel. 0733.657062
Fax: 0733.657062
info@roccacolonnalta.it
www.roccacolonnalta.it
