Hotel Surroundings > Castel of Julius II

The cardinal Giuliano of the Rovere, future pontiff Julius II (1503-1513), ordered the construccion of the castel between 1483 and the 1486 in order to protect the suburb from the curve of the Tiber, in fact the area was a strategic point for the control of all the navigation and also to control the salines which were monopolized by the Curia.

The works of one of the first examples of military architecture was given to the florentine architect Baccio Pontelli that used a lot of the material of the Ancient Ostia ruins.

The choice of building the castel with having a triangle form was made not only for the morfology of the territory but also to include the tower built by the Pontiff Martin V (1417-1431) which became the most important part of the castel.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE CASTEL OF JULIUS II

The compound is charachterized by a perimeterial system of "casematte" (shooting rooms were soldiers used to stay in order to protect the castel) which connects the main tower with the other two towers.

All the entrances have drawbridges. The castel had a strategic and military use even though this aspect was soften due to the residential buildings int he inside which are charchterized by fresco paintings made by Baldassare Peruzzi.