Medieval village of Stimigliano

You enter the medieval village through a round arched door which was guarded by the guardhouse which was located in the adjacent cylindrical building, where the loophole through which the drawbridge was controlled is still visible. The tower, in an angled position with respect to the stately building, delimits the small square where the water well was located, of which now only the descent arm remains.

A little ahead on the left, the magnificent sixteenth-century ashlar portal of Palazzo Orsini; on the architrave a verse from Virgil’s Aeneid (I, 26).

Inside the noble residence you can admire the richly decorated rooms and, in the courtyard of honor, the noble chapel dedicated to St. Joseph which maintains the beauty of the late 16th century Mannerist art. The frescoes have been attributed to the Zuccari school. The village is gathered around its center of power which develops with a longitudinal plan, following the crest of the hill (207 m asl) along a single main road, from which the characteristic alleys branch off.

In the alley of the arches, (also called the kiss alley) was the Hospitale which was a welfare facility for “infirmi and peregrinantes”. Under the municipal seat there was the ancient parish church, today the Municipal Library.

Finally, it should be remembered that the construction of the railway station (1865) and the subsequent installation of the ceramic factory favored the housing development of Stimigliano Scalo.