A Bit of History

Monte Grimano Terme, today a small spa tourism center in the Valconca area of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, situated on a hill to the left of the Conca River at 536 meters above sea level, held a certain importance especially during the Early and Late Middle Ages.

Interest in this locality was mainly due to its elevated position, right at the edge of the main valley, making it easily accessible yet effectively defensible, with a significant capacity to control any potential invaders.

Presumably as early as Roman times, and then throughout the Middle Ages, the site was frequented as a “place of rest” and leisure by those living in the coastal towns or cultivating the plains near the sea, from Cattolica (ancient Crustumium?) to Rimini.

The medieval name of this castle in the Montefeltro area was Mons Germanus. Under this name it is mentioned in the diploma issued in Viterbo on August 16, 962, by which Emperor Otto I granted it as a fief, together with other Montefeltro castles, to Uldarico di Carpegna for assisting him, during the siege of San Leo, in fighting Berengario II, who had proclaimed himself King of the Kingdom of Italy and had taken refuge in this impregnable fortress after the fall of Pavia (961).

Together with Monte Grimano—referred to as Mons Germanus in the diploma of investiture—the fiefs of Monte Tassi, San Marino, and Pietracuta were also granted.

Having become part of the domain of the Counts of Carpegna, Monte Grimano experienced a long period of relative administrative stability and tranquility in agricultural and livestock activities.

It was Nolfo da Carpegna, son of Uldarico, who had the first medieval fortress built there: a substantial structure within a large open area enclosed by strong walls with a single northern gate, surrounded by a moat and equipped with a watchtower.

The nearly elliptical perimeter of the walls covered an area of about two hectares, with a convex surface slightly sloping toward the north.

The fortress was designed with a semi-circular keep extending on the western side beyond the walls for purely defensive purposes.

The rainwater cistern, the rooms used for storing weapons, as well as the village—characterized by large buildings located along the inner perimeter (indeed, it was forbidden to build against the outer side of the walls in accordance with military security regulations) and fitted with small, narrow loopholes—formed the essential elements of this first settlement with urban characteristics.

A castellan and several officers occupied the central part of the fortress, while the families, known as “fuochi” (households), lived in the village within the walls. There were few dwellings in the surrounding countryside.

In the 12th century, with the accession of the imperial crown by Frederick I (Frederick I of Swabia), the Montefeltro passed as a fief to Count Antonio di Carpegna of the Monte Copiolo branch. From then on, the lords of Monte Copiolo adopted the more prestigious title of Counts of Montefeltro and later became Counts of Urbino and eventually Dukes.

The name Mons Grimanus, from which the present toponym “Monte Grimano” derives, appears for the first time in 1296 in a document concerning the liberty of San Marino, signed by a local notary identified as “Ulderisius de Monte Grimano, imperiali auctoritate notarius.”

During these years, the original fortress of Monte Grimano underwent significant transformations, to the point of deserving the designation Castrum Montis Grimani.

In 1358, after the restoration of Papal authority through the efforts of Cardinal Egidio Albornoz, the “Romandiola Feltresca” was administratively divided into five podesterie (districts), and Monte Grimano became part of one together with Macerata Feltria, Montecerignone, Pennabilli, and San Leo. It should be remembered that at that time the pope resided in Avignon, and one of the conditions for the hoped-for return to Rome was the reorganization of the ancient Papal State.

The fact that Monte Grimano is mentioned alongside other much better-known localities sufficiently demonstrates the importance that this castle held during the Late Middle Ages..

Cardinal Anglic Grimoard de Grisac described it as:

“Castrum Montis Grimani est in quodam Monte, quoad habet Palatium valde forte, ad cuius custodiam moratur unus Castellanus cum sex paghis (…) In quo sunt focularia 85. Villa Meleti in qua sunt Focularia quattuor,”

that is, as a castle that had become wealthy and strategically strong, guarded by a castellan and six salaried defenders.

Thus, by the end of the 14th century, Monte Grimano no longer possessed merely a primitive keep, but a very strong palace—in other words, a true fortress. Within the castle and its immediate surroundings there were 85 “hearths” (households), and four more in the nearby “Villa Meleti,” a settlement—Meleto—that still exists today.

If one considers that in the neighboring castles of Montefiore Conca, Saludecio, Montescudo, and Gemmano—all located further down the valley—the population was only slightly above one hundred hearths, and that even Montecerignone, regarded from the Middle Ages until Italian Unification as the most important center of the Feltresca area in the Conca Valley, had only 70 hearths, the demographic weight of Monte Grimano becomes evident.

Considering that each “hearth” represented a family unit including grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, other cohabiting relatives, and various servants, Monte Grimano’s population at that time was indeed significant. It may have amounted to around 800–900 people within the castle alone, not counting the “subject” communities of Monte Tassi and Ripalta—at a time when, for example, Ancona had fewer than ten thousand inhabitants.

If one accepts the hypothesis that only those hearths subject to taxation due to their wealth were recorded, it can be assumed that the inhabitants’ activities were no longer limited to agriculture, livestock breeding, and the presence of some soldiers and bureaucrats, but that other artisanal and commercial activities had also developed.

In 1390, the fortress of Monte Grimano, together with 33 other castles in the Feltresca area, was recognized by Pope Boniface IX as belonging to the ancient House of Montefeltro, and in particular to Antonio, who had previously obtained the cities of Urbino, Cagli, and Sant’Angelo in Vado. For the Montefeltro family, Monte Grimano became important because the territory subject—albeit with varying fortunes—to the Malatesta of Rimini also included Montescudo, Sassofeltrio, and, in the hills on the opposite bank of the Conca River, Pian di Castello and even Monte Altavelio.

At the end of the 14th century and throughout the first half of the following century, the ancient feudal domains of the Lords of Urbino and those of Rimini evolved into a more consolidated lordly power, to which several small communities submitted in search of protection and stability against external hegemonic ambitions. With papal investiture, the Montefeltro of Urbino acquired their own “regional state,” undertaking to defend it from any invasion, personally waging wars, expanding it through successive conquests, and administering it in times of peace.

The presence in these lands between Umbria and Romagna of two powerful dynasties such as the Malatesta and the Montefeltro made repeated conflicts inevitable, in which Monte Grimano was often directly involved.

In the summer of 1446, Sigismondo Malatesta laid siege to and occupied Monte Grimano, subduing a fortress that was almost completely destroyed. The same fate had already befallen the castles of Montecerignone, Monte Tassi, Valle Sant’Anastasio, Montecopiolo, and Pietrarubbia.

But already the following year, Federico da Montefeltro retook all the Feltresca castles of the Conca Valley with the help of the local population, especially the inhabitants of Monte Grimano.

In the subsequent peace treaties, Monte Grimano and Monte Tassi were ceded to Malatesta’s brother, the Lord of Cesena.

Finally, in 1461, Monte Grimano and the neighboring castles were definitively assigned by Pope Pius II to his ally Federico da Montefeltro.

Thus began another long period of stability and industriousness under the rule of the Dukes of Urbino, though not without episodes of military conflict—especially during the campaign of “Il Valentino,” Cesare Borgia, who in 1502 occupied virtually the entire Montefeltro region and held it for several months. Further unrest arose during the struggles over succession following the extinction of the male line of the Montefeltro family, the claims of the Medici, and the eventual assignment of the duchy to the Della Rovere of Senigallia.

In any case, during the 16th century, with no more external enemies to fear from the direction of Rimini and Romagna, Monte Grimano’s population exceeded 800 inhabitants. The valley along the Conca River, with more convenient routes than the hill roads, ensured a certain commercial flow. The local commercial center was the “Piazza del Mercato,” today Mercatino Conca, at the foot of Monte Grimano, whose market activity was granted at the municipality’s request by Duke Guidobaldo I da Montefeltro in 1508.

Monte Grimano was considered a town of wealthy inhabitants who possessed “comfortable, spacious, and elegant buildings.” There is, of course, some exaggeration in this, yet Giovanni Ercolani, a 16th-century man of letters who did not spare ironic jabs at Monte Tassi, instead wrote:

“Est Mons Grimanus pingui tellure beatus
Fontibus et quercu, Crustumique fere.”

In other words, according to him, it was a fortunate land, very fertile, full of oaks and woods, and rich in the waters of the River Crostumio (Conca).

In the following century, the 1600s, the continuous struggles among the Signorie came to an end, also because—apart from the Duchy of Urbino, then ruled by the Della Rovere—all the surrounding territories had returned directly under the control of the Papal States (with the obvious exception of the Republic of San Marino).

The final act of the Duchy of Urbino was the devolution of the duchy to the Holy See, which took place in 1631.

The chronicles of Monte Grimano no longer record any particularly noteworthy events or figures, apart from the occasional visit by distinguished individuals or ecclesiastical authorities.

The need for fortifications—and the fortune of Monte Grimano, like that of other centers in the Montefeltro annexed to the extensive Papal State—had long since declined, at least from the time when Duke Federico II Gonzaga of Urbino had concluded an alliance with San Marino, which at that time shared the same concern of defending itself against the people of Rimini.

Gradually, some roofs, floors, and vaults collapsed; others were adapted—subject to the approval of the Duke of Urbino—for housing or other uses (a hospice, warehouses, etc.), until the Rocca disappeared entirely. With the fortress vanished the small mill, the prison, and other secondary buildings; even the church was demolished because it was small and in a state of disrepair.

A similar fate befell the walls, upon which houses were built, making use not only of the land but also of reclaimed materials. Construction also began outside the original walls, especially because, starting in the last decade of the 16th century, a major crisis affected the entire Apennine belt of Montefeltro, sparing only in part the plains and the first hills. It was there that the population sought refuge, and it is plausible that Monte Grimano, as the main center of the surrounding settlements, became a reference point for migration from even more inland areas.

This also helps explain the activity of popular housing construction, which was not the result of economic expansion, but rather a measure to mitigate the crisis.

In fact, all of Italy was experiencing a widespread economic crisis during these years due to the consequences of the discovery of America and the decline of the Mediterranean as a center of trade in favor of the Atlantic area. Only in the second half of the 17th century were new adjustments found, very different from the splendors of previous centuries.

In particular, in the Montefeltro, the principles that Pope Clement VIII had advocated as early as 1594 in his constitution De bono regimine were finally applied. However, it was only in 1677 that the first results began to appear, primarily through the work of the papal legate Carlo Barberini, who issued the “General Rules to be observed by the officials of the towns and ministers of the communities of this legation of Urbino for the good governance of the same, as well as for the abundance of grain, oil, and pawned goods.”

In the 18th century, a stone emblem with the initials of Count Federico and the Imperial Eagle of the Montefeltro could still be seen on the “Porta della Terra” at the entrance to the village. By then, however, the appearance of the ancient Rocca had been lost, and Monte Grimano appeared as it does in the 1626 print by Francesco Mengucci: a settlement tightly clustered around the remaining civic tower.

The walls depicted by Mengucci and much of the village, so neatly arranged, are also partly imaginative. The new houses had been built atop the original circle of walls, along the “Ghirlandaia” (the road running atop the walls) or immediately at its base. Therefore, from that time onward, new retaining and supporting walls had to be built in various sections. These walls, identified in documents as the village walls, were consistently maintained and regulated to prevent tampering, and were later reinforced, restored, and completed in the early decades of the 20th century, at the beginning of the Fascist era, and still exist today.

At that time, the connection between the village and the tower was much tighter than it is today because the current Vicolo Leopardi extended halfway to the present Piazza Garibaldi, and around the tower there were still buildings in use, such as the “Casa dell’Abbondanza” (a genuine public goods warehouse) and the Giampaoli house, with a small square behind it.

The population changes in Monte Grimano over the years suggest, even before analyzing the few surviving municipal documents, how the urban layout of the historic center may have evolved.

The population, which in 1371 was 90 “fuochi” (thus roughly 800 people, as noted earlier), was recorded in 1501 as 730 “mouths,” in 1627 as 827 “souls,” in 1656 it had dropped to 596, and even further in 1701 to 519, then rose again to 591 in 1708, to 600 in 1736, and 719 in 1782, with fluctuations of only a few dozen individuals, returning to approximately the original values at the beginning of the 19th century, with a rising trend that reached 1,041 inhabitants in 1853. This count does not include Monte Tassi, which experienced much sharper declines before the 19th-century recovery, nor Montelicciamo, which, being closer to the coast, remained relatively stable around 200 people, reaching a maximum of 398 in 1853.

During all these years, no other significant events were recorded until 1849, when the people of Monte Grimano witnessed the flight of Giuseppe Garibaldi. After the fall of the Roman Republic, pursued by the Austrian army, he was forced to stop in these hills. The neutrality of the Republic of San Marino prevented him from continuing his flight without jeopardizing the small state’s international relations. However, the rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground, after a violent clash between the fleeing forces and the Austrian army near Monte San Paolo, compelled Garibaldi in July 1849 to act decisively and move to San Marino with approximately 1,500 men and 300 horses.

In 1889, the mineral water springs located two kilometers from the historic center, in the area known as Bagni di Meleto and already famous in antiquity, were restored. These were neither large nor medium-scale facilities, though on July 22, 1900, it was possible to inaugurate the “era of bathing.” A 1936 postcard shows, unmistakably, only a small hut labeled “Alcalina,” surrounded by greenery—this was where the medicinal spring was located.

In any case, the “rediscovery” of the medicinal waters—as they were called at the time—marked the beginning of a new phase of life and development for the village, which equipped itself with inns (for example, the “Appennino” Hotel within the village walls), refreshment points, and entertainment venues.

Acetylene gas lighting replaced the previous oil lamps, and a “perfect courier service” connected Monte Grimano to Rimini in just five hours.

Aside from the exaggerations of writers from past centuries, the reality of Monte Grimano, as far as it has been documented so far, tells of a Montefeltro center consistently present throughout history, whose territory—at least in the lower areas—was inhabited by small groups of farmers even in Roman times. The scholar Walter Monacchi attests that just below the historic center, at an elevation of about 300 meters (rather than the over 500 meters of the main town), fragments of bricks, stones, roof tiles, pieces of late Roman ceramics, and traces of a modest rural settlement at an even lower altitude, around the former Giovanetti mill, have been found.

The statutes of the Vicariate of Monte Grimano (promoted during the 1600s to a Podesteria) are among the most complete of the many in the Montefeltro area: they date back to the 1500s but remained in effect even after the Duchy of Urbino was devolved to the Church, up to the end of the 1700s (one copy preserved in the municipal archives is dated 1641, another 1787).

Monte Grimano played a proactive role with respect to its surrounding villages and countryside even during the Roman Republic of 1848–1849, due to the presence of notaries and legal officials (including Francesco Massaioli, who also served as podestà), and later during the Napoleonic period.

The Restoration period does not seem to have been overly oppressive, given that a certain Vico lived among the citizens; he appears in municipal records as a councilor and is commemorated on the only plaque in the parish Church of S. Silvestro.

This church, built at the very end of the 18th century in a Neoclassical style by Cosimo Morelli of Imola, represents, in a sense, the definitive urban planning of the town—but also marks the beginning of an endless series of small transformations that ultimately erased the remnants of the ancient fortress, the original inner walls, and the modest dwellings adapted from medieval structures.

 

Author: Antonio Di Stefano, Professor, Class of 1937