We discovered that the Castle of Proceno was enchanted even before reading the book “The enchanted castle: chronicles of then and today” which Cecilia Bisoni Cecchini gave us as a gift.
Let’s start with a fact: not only is it a perfectly preserved private castle but it has been in the hands of the same family continuously since the 17th century.
In the enchanted castle of Proceno
A family that has always loved it, preserving it and keeping within it elements of the passage of time, from the Etruscan and medieval traces to the most modern times.
And even “gems” from the East, a place often visited by an ancestor of Mrs. Cecilia who went to China three times, taking over two years for each trip, together with other treasures that Cecchini family has kept within the walls of this manor for centuries and which generously shares with the guests of the Castle of Proceno, formerly Agriturismo and today Albergo Diffuso.
You could spend whole days listening to the stories of life that intersected with that of the castle located in Proceno in Alta Tuscia, a land of extraordinary traditions, a crossroads of cultures, art and history.
The small village, where only a few inhabitants live today, was once a great military outpost where popes and emperors stayed. The glorious past is transfused in the castle, which over the centuries has become a home of multiple contaminations. It was an ancestor of Mrs. Cecilia Bisoni Cecchini who became the owner of the Castle of Proceno in 1644, whose original nucleus was built by Moladeschi family before 1000.
Today it looks like a pentagonal-based fortress with a main tower and two secondary turrets interconnected by patrol paths and a drawbridge, one of the 19 still functioning in Italy.
The complex includes a 14th century fort which is joined to the castle by a stretch of the town wall. Here are the first apartments open to hospitality: Spring, Summer and Autumn.
Corsetto apartment overlooks the internal medieval square like the three suites Chiostrino, Bicocca and Loggia, where Bruno Barbieri was hosted during the episode of the “4 hotel” program dedicated to Tuscia.
From the same courtyard, under which the ancient snow cellar is hidden, you enter the three rooms located in the tower of the ancient walls of the village: Collinella, Poggiolo and Caciaia, whose name recalls the room where in ancient times it was used to place a seasoning the cheese and that welcomed us and Otto. All apartments and suites have working fireplaces that are constantly supplied with wood: there are 21 of them in the whole castle!
A large fireplace also heats the old cellars of the castle which house the cozy and refined Enoteca restaurant where we tasted dishes chosen from a refined menu prepared in the kitchen created in an Etruscan burial (we talk about it in #Buongusto).
After having accompanied us to what was our first “home” in Tuscia, it is Cecilia herself who told us the story of the fortress raised on a spur of volcanic rock where she lives with her husband Giovanni.
She led us through the wonderful hanging garden up to the highest tower through the rooms of her extraordinary house-museum where you can breathe the scent of history among the exhibits of vases and artifacts found by the great-grandfather archaeologist, of ancient musical instruments and old machines from from the oldest typography in Siena founded by Luigi Lazzeri, an ancestor of her mother.
Each floor of the tower, connected by steep wooden stairs, reveals exhibition spaces with period weapons, trophies and family heirlooms.
On the first level there is a trap door covered by a thick grate on what was once the cistern for collecting rainwater which from the top of the towers then passed through sand and coal and flowed into the underground space with the cocciopesto walls where a colony of freshwater shrimp ensured further filtration.
On the second floor is the kitchen with the large fireplace, the oldest in the castle, still fully functional and able, through the flue set in the thick walls, to heat all the rooms of the tower. From here you can access the drawbridge, which can be crossed from Easter to the Immaculate Conception, when it is pulled up to protect it from the elements.
The third floor houses an exhibition of medieval ceramics and sacred vestments, but there is also a small period bathroom carved into the thickness of the wall. Weapons from various eras are exhibited on the fourth floor, while on the fifth there are tools for embroidery and lace and a collection of old irons.
From the terrace at the top of the tower the gaze sweeps over the surrounding countryside between Monte Amiata and the Volsini Mountains. I did not shy away from Mrs. Cecilia’s invitation to ring the bell that for centuries has hovered its clear and crystalline sound over the village.
The stands are equipped with patrol walkways with access to the perimeter defense towers that with the high walls form the backdrop to the events organized by the “Associazione Storico Artistico Culturale Ingegnere Carlo Cecchini” which, in addition to promoting Studies of Etruscology and Italic Antiquities, organizes historical studies on the Middle Ages and concerts.
Cecilia entertained us with interesting stories about the Castle of Proceno and showed us the signs of enemy attacks on the towers, enhancing the excellent defensive efficiency of the fortress that resisted for a long time when the troops of Pope Eugene IV besieged the town and then capitulated only because of the betrayal of Captain Bernardo d’Utri. It is said that he was beheaded right here and since then his ghost has been wandering the halls of the castle. But he is not the only one! The other is that of the bandit who killed the brother of Cecilia’s grandfather, Camillo Cecchini while he was on horseback in his countryside.
The manor, which looks like a single ancient village, is surrounded by an enchanting park where there is a swimming pool and a renovated barn with a covered loggia used as a summer restaurant which guests can access through an ancient underground passage.
Here everything fits perfectly into a chorus of voices in which time, touching the strings of memory, becomes a process of transformation that excludes nothing and in which everything merges. Also the love for dogs, always faithful and pampered life companions to whom a chapter of the book is dedicated.
We met Argo a beautiful specimen of collie, the favorite breed of the hosts, and Zeus, an affectionate foundling who found his noble and comfortable home in the Castle of Proceno.
Castello di Proceno
Corso Regina Margherita, 155 – Proceno (VT)
Info: +39 0763 710072 – castello.proceno@orvienet.it
