Fornione Tower

The village of Fornione lies in the hills between Fontanelice and Castel del Rio. It probably owes its name to furnaces of Roman origin. Several Etruscan and Roman tombs have also been found locally, demonstrating that these hills have been inhabited since ancient times.

Today, the austere Antica Torre di Fornione remains as impressive as ever, recalling a time when a family’s power was measured by the grandeur of their possessions and palaces. However, time, neglect, landslides triggered by snowfall and the impact of the Second World War have seriously scarred this ancient building, once the proud residence of a branch of the Alidosi family, the Signori of Castel del Rio and Fornione. Little remains of the grandiose palace or the sumptuous decorations it once housed: the surviving Torre (tower), though, still testifies to the power of the family who commissioned its construction in circa 1570. After the Alidosi, the palace was subsequently owned by the Spada, Marchi and Pifferi families.

This last change of ownership saw the building fall into disrepair as

it became disconnected from the economic interests of the Pifferi family.