Castel Savello

Castel Savello stands near Albano Laziale, Italy; it was erected in the medieval period under papal authority. The hilltop site took its name from the Savelli family, who held the estate from the 1160s and made the hill their local seat.

Major construction phases date to the thirteenth century, carried out during the pontificates of Honorius III (1216–1227) and later Honorius IV (1285–1287). Through these decades the place served as a fortified residence for the Savelli as feudal lords, functioning as a defensive stronghold above the surrounding plain and the rear slopes of the Alban Hills.

In 1435 the standing fortress was destroyed when forces under Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi, commander of the papal troops of Pope Eugene IV, razed the castle. After that action the structure was not rebuilt and the site remained in ruin for many centuries. During the eighteenth century there was an effort to establish a new settlement on the ruined remains, but that attempt did not restore the medieval fortress.

The summit saw renewed military use in the twentieth century. In 1944 German forces occupied Monte Savello and used the vantage point as an observation post to direct the fire of heavy German guns against Allied troops who had landed at Anzio. In 1963 Giorgio Schanzer consolidated the many fragmented parcels that covered the hilltop into a single property and began practical measures to stabilise and clear the ruins, using donkeys to bring materials to the summit. The ruins remain privately owned.