{"id":6049,"date":"2026-08-01T14:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montesantemarie.bio\/?page_id=6049"},"modified":"2026-08-01T14:27:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:27:55","slug":"the-restored-casamatta","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montesantemarie.bio\/en\/the-restored-casamatta\/","title":{"rendered":"The restored Casamatta"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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THE ANCIENT CASAMATTA<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Casamatta<\/em>, n. f. [perhaps from casa matta<\/em>, in the sense of “a building that has the appearance of a house but is in fact something quite different”] (pl. casematte<\/em>). 1.<\/strong> Originally, a mobile structure that could be used by both attackers and defenders of a fortress to protect a siege engine; hence, a fixed defensive structure, first built at the foot of the outer escarpment to defend the moat, and later within the bastioned curtain wall to house artillery pieces. 2.<\/strong> In military architecture, an armoured emplacement, generally for a cannon. | from the Treccani Dictionary<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

The ancient Casamatta<\/strong> of Monte Sante Marie began as a defensive tower guarding the road and the main gate of the castle.<\/strong> Today it is absorbed into the cellars of the manor house, but it was once an open passage between the manor’s two wings.<\/p>

The building has undergone many transformations over time.<\/p>

The west-facing wall, and in part the south and east ones, consist of a rubble-filled wall<\/strong> (muro a sacco<\/em>) probably dating to the 13th century.<\/strong> The single-light window<\/strong> (monofora<\/em>) on the fa\u00e7ade<\/strong>, however, dates to the 15th century.<\/strong> The lane behind the building<\/strong> came later, created when the casamatta was separated from the castle, of which it had originally been an extension.<\/p>

The structure of the building suggests it once had at least three floors.<\/strong><\/p>

In the land registry of 1819<\/strong>, it was already recorded as a “rented house.”<\/p>

An Alinari<\/em> photograph<\/strong> \u2014 from the historic Italian photographic archive \u2014 dated 1859<\/strong> reveals that, at the time, the building housed living quarters on the first floor and a storehouse on the ground floor<\/strong>. Its conversion into a two-storey dwelling came later.<\/p>

Until 1978<\/strong>, the last inhabitant of Monte Sante Marie lived here<\/strong> \u2014 a man known as “Mondo<\/strong>,” from whom the building takes its popular name, “Mondo’s House<\/strong>” (Casa di Mondo<\/em>). During restoration work, at first-floor level, inside the rubble-filled wall of the south-west corner, a key of possible Lombard or late-antique origin<\/strong> was discovered \u2014 archaeological proof that Monte Sante Marie already existed in the 7th century.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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THE RESTORATION<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For the interior restoration of the Casamatta, the choice was made to preserve, almost entirely, the layout the building had taken on during its last use: a rural dwelling<\/strong> with a kitchen and hearth on the ground floor and, on the upper floor, reached by a staircase, two small bedrooms.<\/p>

The building was fitted with an anti-seismic frame<\/strong> and a wooden floor structure<\/strong>, in order to recover the light and vertical volume that had previously been much reduced. For the same reason, the open staircase<\/strong> was built in iron and wood.<\/p>

The ground-floor flooring<\/strong> was redone using the original mezzane bricks, with the exception of the wooden section above the cellar<\/strong>, which is accessed from outside.<\/p>

On the upper floor, a single room<\/strong> was created, preserving the original built-in masonry cupboards \u2014 a legacy of the pre-1859 layout<\/strong> (living quarters on the first floor, entered via an external staircase, with a storeroom below).<\/p>

On the lower floor<\/strong>, the restoration uncovered a niche for lanterns<\/strong> and an old sink of brick and travertine.<\/strong> On the upper floor<\/strong>, three things came to light: the trace of the vanished third storey<\/strong>, a single-light window<\/strong> that had been bricked up and has now been reopened, and, set into the masonry, the badly deteriorated flue of a vanished fireplace<\/strong> \u2014 later found to have been connected, at some point, to the hearth built on the ground floor.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Progetto \u201cIl restauro dell\u2019antica Casamatta\u201d<\/em>
[PNRR M1.C3 – Investimento 2.2<\/em>\u00a0\u201cArchitettura rurale\u201d]<\/em>
Finanziato dall\u2019Unione Europea –<\/em>\u00a0NextGenerationEU<\/em>
Codice CUP: D37B220041006<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-lavoridirestauro4\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-restaurata2\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-restaurata1\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-restaurata3\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-lavorirestauro\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-lavorirestauro3\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta_montesantemarie_inrestauro1\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-restaurata8\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-chiave<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-lavorirestauro8\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-lavorirestauro11\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-lavorirestauro13\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-prerestauro1\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-prerestauro2\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-prerestauro4\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-prerestauro8\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-prerestauro1989-90\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-prerestauro1994-2000\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-prerestauro1994\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-restaurata4\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"casamatta-montesantemarie-sangiovese\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-sangiovese1\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamatta-montesantemarie-vicolo\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Mondo_montesantemarie_retro_scalediaccesso_primopiano_latoovestc\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"chiavelongobarda1500x1500\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamattad1500IMG_20250401_153416\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"casamattanosfuoc\"<\/figure><\/a><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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THE ANCIENT CASAMATTA Casamatta, n. f. [perhaps from casa matta, in the sense of “a building that has the appearance of a house but is in fact something quite different”] (pl. casematte). 1. Originally, a mobile structure that could be used by both attackers and defenders of a fortress to protect a siege engine; hence,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5614,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6049","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t