Palazzo Ravaschieri Fieschi della Torre or Palazzo Ravaschieri Fieschi-del Giudice is a 16th-century noble palace in the historical center of Belmonte Calabro in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy.
Belmonte Calabro, known simply as Belmonte prior to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza, in Calabria. The town is perched on a hilltop on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The province of Cosenza is a province in the Calabria region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city of Cosenza. It contains 155 comuni (comune), listed at comunes of the Province of Cosenza.
Calabria, known in antiquity as Bruttium, is a region in Southern Italy.
Constructed between 1639 and 1640 on the instructions of Don Orazio Giovan Battista Ravaschieri Fieschi, 1st Prince of Belmonte, after the devastating earthquake of 1638, the palazzo has panoramic views over the Tyrrhenian Sea and of the coastal plain of Marina di Belmonte. It was the official residence of the Ravaschieri Fieschi family, Princes of Belmonte during their sojourns in Belmonte. The palace was built to assist in the defence of the Tyrrhenian seacoast from Saracen invasion. The palace was acquired in 1798 by the del Giudice family, and during the Siege of Belmonte (1806), Tommaso del Giudice was killed by the Jacobins and his pregnant consort was hung from the windowsill of the palace by the mob. The window was thereafter blocked up, and remained so until the 1970s.
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy.
Prince of Belmonte is a noble title created in 1619 by the Spanish crown for the Barons of Badolato and Belmonte. The name of the title is taken from the fortress town of Belmonte in Calabria, historically important for the defence of the Italian coast from Saracen invasion. Belmonte has been known since the Risorgimento as Belmonte Calabro.
Saracen was a term widely used among Christian writers in Europe during the Middle Ages to refer to Arabs and Muslims. The term's meaning evolved during its history. In the early centuries of the Common Era, Greek and Latin writings used this term to refer to the people who lived in desert areas in and near the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, and in Arabia Deserta. In Europe during the Early Middle Ages, the term came to be associated with tribes of Arabia. The oldest source mentioning the term Saracen dates back to the 7th century. It was found in Doctrina Jacobi, a commentary that discussed the event of the Arab conquests on Palestine.
The palace takes the form of an “open U” giving onto a courtyard in which the prince's armoury and stables were located. Below the palace, along perimeter walls, there is a garden, from which runs an underground secret passage from the palace to the Palace of Rivellino at Marina di Belmonte.
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Salerno is an ancient city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city is divided into three distinct zones: the medieval sector, the 19th century sector and the more densely populated post-war area, with its several apartment blocks.
The Nobility of Italy comprises individuals and their families of the Italian peninsula, and the islands linked with it, recognized by sovereigns, such as the Holy Roman Emperor, the Holy See, the Kings of Italy, and certain other Italian kings and sovereigns, as members of a class of persons officially enjoying hereditary privileges which distinguished them from other persons and families. They often held lands as fiefs and were sometimes endowed with hereditary titles or nobiliary particles. From the Middle Ages until 1871, "Italy" was not a single country but was a number of separate kingdoms and other states, with many reigning dynasties. These were often related through marriage to each other and to other European royal families.
The Fieschi were a noble merchant family from Genoa, Italy, from whom descend the Fieschi Ravaschieri Princes of Belmonte. The Fieschi family exercised great influence in the Guelf politics in medieval Italy. They had close ties with the Angevin kings of Sicily. Later they also established links with French kings. The Fieschi family produced two popes and 72 cardinals.
Lavagna is a tourist port city in the curving stretch of the Italian Riviera di Levante, called the Gulf of Tigullio, in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in Liguria. The borgo of Lavagna was an important Ligurian cultural center in the Middle Ages. Today its long straight beach is a summer resort.
Badolato is a comune and town in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region of Italy. As of 2013 Badolato had an estimated population of 3,152.
Cerisano is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.
Longobardi is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza, part of the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is located between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Monte Cocuzzo, one of the highest peaks in the area.
Marquess or Marchioness of Galatone is a noble title created by the Kings of Spain for Stefano Squarciafico, Patrician of Genoa, on 29 June 1562, and inherited according to Spanish nobiliary law. The title is currently held by the Prince or Princess Belmonte, and may be used as a courtesy title.
Policastro Bussentino is an Italian town and hamlet (frazione) of the municipality of Santa Marina in the province of Salerno, Campania region. It is a former bishopric, now titular see, and has a population of 1,625.
Orazio Giovan Battista Ravaschieri Fieschi was a wealthy nobleman and patrician ('patrizio') of Genoa descending from the Fieschi, Counts Palatine of Lavagna, in what is now Liguria. He was appointed Grand Seneschal of Naples, and, on 5 March 1619, he was elevated to the title of Prince of Belmonte at Madrid by Philip III of Spain.
Orazio descended from a line of imperial and royal bankers, his great-grandfather Giovan Battista and grandfather having been Treasurers to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and King Philip II of Spain respectively.
Oronzo is an Italian personal name, derived from the Latin Orontius.
Palazzo Rivellino, also called Rivellino, is a historical building in the municipality of Belmonte Calabro, in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy.
Count Sesto is the title borne by the current head of the existing noble family of that name, of ancient Genoese and subsequently Sicilian origin.
Paola railway station serves the town and comune of Paola, in the Calabria region, southern Italy. Opened in 1895, it forms part of the Battipaglia–Reggio di Calabria railway, and is also a terminus of a secondary line, the Paola–Cosenza railway.
The Palazzo Cellamare or Cellammare is a monumental palace located in via Chiaia 139 in the Quartiere San Ferdinando of Naples, Italy. The entrance is near the church of Santa Caterina a Chiaia.
The Palazzo Ravaschieri di Satriano is a monumental palace on the Riviera di Chiaia number 287, in Naples, Italy.
The strada statale 18 "Tirrena Inferiore" is an Italian state road, connecting Campania and Calabria.