Top 6 Castles around Quarrata

The Emperor's Castle (also known as the Fortress of Santa Barbara or Swabian Castle) is located in the historic center of Prato, in Piazza Santa Maria delle Carceri. It is the only example of Swabian (Frederickian) architecture in central-northern Italy, built between 1237 and 1248 by the architect Riccardo da Lentini at the behest of Emperor Frederick II of Swabia. The fortress served to guard the communication routes between Germany and southern Italy. Structure and Architecture: Square plan: the sides measure approximately 40 meters, with walls two and a half meters thick made of alberese stone. Eight towers: four main towers at the corners corresponding to the cardinal points and four central towers. Guelph battlements: the walls are decorated with classic swallowtail battlements. [1] Bichrome portal: the main entrance combines Gothic style with Romanesque-Tuscan elements, characterized by alternating bands of white and green marble and protected by two lions

The Rocca or Castle of Carmignano has dominated the village from above for over a thousand years: the bastion was in fact mentioned for the first time in the year 998, in a document by Otto III of Saxony which granted ownership to the bishop of Pistoia. The Rocca was the object of continuous battles between Pistoia, Florence and Prato, due to its strategic position in the political-military context of the Middle Ages: from up here, in fact, you can admire the entire plain between the three cities. After having resisted, in 1154, a siege conducted by troops from Prato and Florence, the castle was destroyed for the first time in 1228 by the Florentines. Having regained possession of Pistoia in 1242, the fortification was rebuilt and in the early fourteenth century sold again to Florence, which proceeded to demolish the fortress and the castle walls once again. After a new parenthesis in Pistoia (1315-1324) the castle returned to Florentine hands, only to be besieged and conquered by Castruccio Castracani, who made it his own stronghold until 1328, when it finally returned to Florence. The Rocca di Carmignano can be accessed via a pedestrian path (starting from the church of San Michele, where Pontormo's famous Visitation is kept) that climbs the hill full of olive trees, where you can enjoy a beautiful view of Montalbano. Few remains of the medieval walls around the Rocca remain, partly rebuilt as the Campano, with the bell tower and clock, while in the center stands a medieval tower, called the Maschio della Rocca. (www.visittuscany.com)

Beautiful, tranquil place that invites you to linger!👍

La Rocca above The village of Carmignano is worth a visit and not just for the view. From this fortress there were two arms that the Pistoiesi had placed and that "made the figs" towards Florence. For more information, consult the Divine Comedy.

Villa Castello Smilea stands at the entrance to the Agna valley along the Roman route of the Via Cassia Clodia. The building consists of two towers, one north and one south, and a lowered tower running along the north side.

Built on previous Roman settlements, the Castle was a possession of the Guidi Counts attested from the mid-10th century, then sold by them to the Municipality of Pistoia in 1225. Contested several times between the Pistoiesi and the Florentines until 1401 when Pistoia definitively submitted to Florence and Larciano became headquarters of one of the podesterias in which the administration of the territory was divided.

The Emperor's castle is located in Prato in Piazza delle Carceri. It is an example of Frederick architecture, built by order of Emperor Frederick II of Swabia, in the context of the struggle for dominance in Tuscany between the empire and the papacy which characterized the decades between the 1200s. Source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_dell'Imperatore

It is the Roccadi Carmignano