La Torre della Botonta offers rooms in apartments around the 14th-century medieval village of Castel San Giovanni. Each apartment has a private entrance and also features a fully equipped kitchenette. Breakfast is buffet style and Wi-Fi is available in public areas. Surrounded by the green Umbrian countryside, the property is 12 km from Spoleto and 34 from Assisi, both reached by bike paths.
Torre della Botonta History
The centuries-old history of Torre della Botonta is inextricably linked to that of Castel San Giovanni, the village fortress dating back to the 14th century located in the heart of Umbria. A part of the manor still preserves its imposing medieval structure and has been redesigned as a historic home, a place where culture, art and nature blend with hospitality made of elegance and good food.
At Torre della Botonta one gets the impression of taking a dip in the past, in an era when the fortified village was a borderland and object of bitter disputes between the cities of Spoleto, Trevi and the Papal State.
The castle was built by Cardinal Egidio Albornoz with the name of San Giovanni della Botonta, in 1376, and was offered as a fief to the Botontei. In 1400 Foligno arrived with Ugolino III Trinci, while in 1432 the mayor Albertino from Castel San Giovanni also held Pomonte and Collemancio. Then there was a period of contention between Trevi and Spoleto: first, in 1471 the papal bull of Sixtus IV punished Spoleto, entrusting the castle to Trevi, only in 1502 the inhabitants, enticed by economic promises, returned to the city of Albornoz also thanks to the help of the captain of fortune Saccoccio.
Other wars followed, until in 1520 it was definitively assigned to Spoleto by Leone X, for payment of over 3000 ducats. Autonomous municipality named until 1863 Castel San Giovanni and then Castel San Giovanni di Spoleto, in 1875 it became a country belonging to the municipality of Castel Ritaldi, so much so that the official name was, until 1827, the town of Castel Ritaldi and San Giovanni.
Castel S. Giovanni excellently preserved, with a square plan, with angular towers with a circular section, is a splendid fortified village that stands out with its imposing walls in the clear and soothing panorama of the Umbrian valley. In the Spoleto valley, a vast fertile region bordered by mountain ranges and crossed by two rivers: the river Clitunno and the torrent Marroggia. The castle combines in itself the naturalistic beauties with the urbanistic, historical and artistic beauties; a little gem to visit, contemplate and get to know.
Inside the walls, erected to protect the pre-existing settlement, in turn developed around the first Romanesque church of S. Giovanni de Botonta or de Porcaria, there are noble residences of the fifteenth century. There are also the remains of the ancient drawbridge that leads to the entrance tower. Until the second world war there was still a moat all around.
The church at the center of the castle is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, whose birth is celebrated on June 24th. For this occasion there is still the popular custom of preparing the smelling water of a hundred flowers or a hundred smells: the evening before, aromatic herbs and flower petals are immersed in a basin of water that is perfumed for the morning of the feast.
Tower. Guarding the square-shaped door, with its 21.48 m is the tallest of the five castellane towers and is completed by four Guelph battlements on each side. It appears as a mini fortress, in feudal age it was an emergency shelter and an instrument of control and sighting of the territory
In the three buildings that made up the complex there are the guest rooms: an austere elegance characterizes the four rooms and the apartment, with vaulted ceilings and period furniture. Handcrafted curtains in natural colors decorate the rooms, where modern comforts are integrated into this unique charm house.
An ancient loggia leads guests to the apartment with two bedrooms, a spacious living room with a fireplace and a kitchenette. Here is also a precious fresco, witness of the history of this place.
The kitchen of the "Grotta della Torre" restaurant is a journey through the flavors of the rich local gastronomy, a path that follows the seasons, passing from summer truffles to grilled specialties in the winter months.
The tower at the entrance to the fort is one of the castle's most special places: inside it there is a bookcase and a small room for romantic candlelit dinners. Breakfast is served inside the Rivellino, the structure that connected the tower with the east tower.