The Village of Torre Alfina and its Castle

Nestled in nature and located at the heart of Italy, Torre Alfina is a village whose history has been inextricably intertwined with its castle since the Early Middle Ages. Towering at 602 metres above sea level, it lies at the crossroads of three regions: Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany. 

The village owes part of its name to the watchtower around which it was built, giving rise to the term “Torre” (tower). According to some, the name Alfina may derive from the Latin ad fines, meaning “at the borders,” referring to its position at the border (fines) of the plateau with respect to Orvieto’s municipality which dominated it. Alternatively, some suggest that the name Alfina was added to identify its location on the plateau of the same name and to distinguish it from the nearby Torre di San Severo.

The first historical reference to the existence of a watchtower appears in the Commentari Istorici by Monaldo Monaldeschi della Cervara, which mentions a fortified tower that was transformed into a castle during the Lombard reign of King Desiderius in the 8th century. The Monaldeschi family itself at first and later the Cervara branch, became lords of the castle and owners of much of the surrounding land from 1200 to 1700. By hereditary succession, the castle passed to the Bourbon del Monte marquises following the marriage of Gia’ Mattia del Monte to Anna Maria Monaldeschi in the second half of the 17th century.
By the mid-15th century, the village of Torre Alfina had achieved a degree of administrative autonomy, having become a rural municipality dependent on Orvieto. 

In 1809, during the territorial reorganization of the French Revolution, the small municipality was assigned to the district of Todi and the canton of Acquapendente. Shortly afterward, due to a decline in the population, it was suppressed and its territory was incorporated into the municipality of Acquapendente. This administrative arrangement, established by the French, was later confirmed by the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, making Torre Alfina a hamlet of Acquapendente.

During Garibaldi’s campaign in the Roman countryside in 1867, General Giovanni Acerbi chose Torre Alfina as his headquarters due to its strategic location, from which he proclaimed his Prodictatorship.
The castle and its estate remained the property of the Bourbon del Monte family until around 1880, when they were purchased by a wealthy Jewish Belgian banker, Edoardo Cahen d’Anvers, who was appointed as the Marquis of Torre Alfina in 1885 by King Umberto I. Bearing the title of Marquis of Torre Alfina, he commissioned the Sienese architect Giuseppe Partini to renovate the castle into its current form. Edoardo was succeeded by Teofilo Rodolfo Cahen, who continued the renovation work.
After passing through inheritance in 1959, the castle was purchased by Alfredo Baroli and later by Luciano Gaucci. Following the bankruptcy of Perugia Calcio, the castle was seized and put up for auction. While awaiting a new buyer, it was rented by the Boscolo family, a group of restaurateurs from Rome.