- Castro (city)
:"For the city in the province of Lecce, see
Castro (LE) ."Castro was an ancient city on the west side ofLake Bolsena in the present-day "comune " ofIschia di Castro , northernLazio ,Italy .History
The settlement Castro was founded in
prehistoric times, and was later the seat of a not specifiedEtruscan city, problably identifiable withStatonia . In theMiddle Ages it had a castle (Latin: "castrum"), hence the name. As an autonomous commune, it remained anyway under the Papal suzerainty. In 1527 an independentist faction took the power, but they were ousted byPier Luigi Farnese , whose family was to rule Castro until the 17th century. In the same year another Farnese, Gian Galeazzo, had it sacked in the wake of the Sack of Rome.In
1537 , three years after the election of Alessandro Farnese as Pope Paul III, it became the seat of an independent Duchy under his son Pier Luigi. The town, which in the meantime had reduced to a "gypsies' hut" in the words of a contemporary, was reconstructed under the design ofAntonio da Sangallo the Younger .Later the enmity of the powerful Papal family of the
Barberini caused so-calledWars of Castro , fought during the reigns of Urban VIII Barberini and Innocent X against the Dukes (now also lords of Parma and Piacenza)Odoardo Farnese and then his son Ranuccio II. The wars ended badly for the city: on the orders of Innocent X, the city was razed onSeptember 2 ,1649 , and never rebuilt.ources
*cite book|first=A. |last=Cavoli|title=La Cartagine della
Maremma |location=Rome|year=1990
*cite book|first=R.|last=Luzi|title=Storia di Castro e della sua distruzioneee also
*
House of Farnese
*Wars of Castro
*Annibale Caro References
*Cigola, Riccardo. [http://www.italycyberguide.com/History/factspersons/wxyz.htm "History: Facts & Persons"] . Retrieved January 23, 2005.
External links
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/_Periods/Roman/Archaic/Etruscan/_Texts/DENETR*/24.html#sec5 "The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria", Chapter XXIV] - Author George Dennis describes the ruins of Castro in this 1848 book.
* [http://www.borgorinascimento.it/ENdove2.htm "Farnese and its history"] - a brief description of Castro's history, and how it appears today.
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