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Torre Alfina Castle: from a Lombard manor to the Neo-Gothic palace of an Antwerp banker
Torre Alfina, a hamlet in the municipality of Acquapendente, recognised as one the Borghi più belli d’Italia (Most Beautiful Villages in Italy) since 2007, owes its name to a Lombard watchtower, around which the medieval castle developed. The earliest documentary evidence dates back to 1200. From then on, its history was inextricably linked to the Monaldeschi della Cervara family. Sforza Monaldeschi, a famous military commander, turned the fortress into an elegant Renaissance residence, commissioning Ippolito Scalza to handle the sculpture and architecture, and Cesare Nebbia the pictorial decorations.
The Belgian banker and the Neo-Gothic restoration
In 1880, the castle was sold to Antwerp banker Edoardo Cahen, who entrusted Sienese architect Giuseppe Partini with a complete revamping. What you see today is a majestic Neo-Gothic castle, built entirely from grey Bagnoregio stone, which almost completely conceals its medieval appearance and Renaissance layers. Surviving from the Monaldeschi era are the inner courtyard façade and a wing on the first floor featuring a monumental fireplace and a decorative cycle dedicated to the lineage. The work was completed by his son, Teofilo Rodolfo Cahen, with paintings by Pietro Ridolfi and wooden panels by Tito Corsini.
The Sasseto Forest
The castle is surrounded by the Bosco del Sasseto (Sasseto Forest): a woodland of centuries-old broadleaf trees resting on a substrate of volcanic lava boulders, transformed at the end of the 19th century by Marquis Cahen. National Geographic has referred to it as the "Fairytale Forest" or "Snow White's Wood".
