Torre Cattanei

Located on top of a hill, in a splendid panoramic position which together reveals the original defensive functions of the building, its origins seem to be well documented: as evidenced by an inscription on the facade, it was built in 1474 by Eliseo Cattanei. The news is confirmed by a second inscription in which we read the words "Tugurium Elisei De Cataneis". According to these data, the Cattanei Tower qualifies as one of the oldest residences in the Municipality of Crespellano. How the building must have looked a few centuries later, more precisely in the late eighteenth century, is documented by two drawings and a description of Oretti, who around 1770 wrote: "Of beautiful design like an ancient fortress with a beautiful tower, crenellated , all with pits of water around ". A few years later, around 1781, the words of Marcello Oretti are confirmed by Calindri, who describes the building as follows: "a magnificent ancient factory of a fortified palace with battlements and a tower at the corners with a pit around it for military use. of the fifteenth century ". From Pantasilea Cattani the villa-fortress and the adjacent lands were bequeathed to his nephew, Count Giovanni Calderini and after his death they passed to the Fathers of San Giovanni in Monte. In the Napoleonic era, following the suppression of religious orders and the confiscation of their assets, the entire property was purchased by the Stagni, who still own it today. During the nineteenth century, probably in the second half of the century, the works were undertaken that transformed the ancient fortress into a residence, supporting its function as the fulcrum of the agricultural activity carried out on the land owned. The external moats were filled with earth, evidently no longer suited to the needs of the time and, as the eighteenth-century drawings of the Oretti seem to testify, the central body of the ancient structure was demolished, in place of which a courtyard with a well and built a new building in the neo-Gothic style. Not far from the villa is the oratory of San Michele Arcangelo, which once served as a parish. Although the appearance of the building is no longer the original one, Villa Stagni still remains today one of the most evocative places in our territory. Drone: Mavic Mini 2 Music: The Queen's Gambit - Borgov III Theme Extended - Carlos Rafael Rivera