Terra del Sole was planned before it was built. Cosimo I de’ Medici founded the fortified town in 1564 on the border between Tuscany and Romagna, and the designer Baldassarre Lanci gave it a rectangular grid inside walls with a bastion at each corner. Above one of its two gates, Porta Fiorentina, stands the castle that once housed the Captain, the armoury and the guard. Today Castello del Capitano delle Artiglierie holds weddings in its park and halls, one at a time, and a couple who book it have the castle to themselves for the day.
A town drawn on a plan
Many Italian towns grew over centuries. Terra del Sole was conceived whole, and the plan shows in its centre, where the Piazza d’Armi is lined with the church of Santa Reparata and the town’s civic palaces. The castle was commissioned as part of the fortress. By its own account it hosted captains, ambassadors and official ceremonies of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany around 1700, and was recognised as a national monument in 1923.
A conservation restoration between 2009 and 2018 recovered frescoes, coffered ceilings and original portals, and weddings and private events have been held since it finished.
Halls, courtyard and loggia
Inside is a vaulted hall frescoed with the crests of the captains who followed one another over five centuries, six metres high and forty metres long, used for gala dinners or civil ceremonies. Outside, a Courtyard of Honour has two storey loggias and a central well, and a garden on the south side of flowerbeds and roses serves aperitifs in summer under century old linden trees. An upper loggia of eight stone arches looks over the courtyard and the Romagna countryside, and is where the castle suggests sunset drinks and portraits.
Vows in the park
The park covers one hectare and offers several settings for the vows. The castle is authorised, it says, for legally binding civil weddings, and a symbolic ceremony can be arranged instead. For a religious service, the church of Santa Reparata is 50 metres away. Couples marrying legally should confirm the civil arrangements with the castle, and anyone planning a church service should confirm it with the parish.
The evening, in sequence
Getting ready happens in the suites, then the ceremony in the park. Guests move to another part of the castle for a buffet drinks reception, and sit to a seated dinner in front of the walls. After the cake the party goes on at Le Chateau Club, the castle’s own private club. How the spaces are used depends on the guest number, and a rain fallback is planned in the indoor rooms with each couple.
One wedding is held a day, so a couple shares no space, timing or staff with another event. An in house planner works in English and helps with local suppliers, which matters for the many couples who come from outside Italy.
Five suites
The suites are named for the Medici and their circle: Gran Duca di Toscana, Caterina Sforza, Cosimo I, Famiglia Medici and Lorenzo il Magnifico. The Gran Duca is the largest, under a painted coffered ceiling with a grand piano, and Cosimo I has a four poster bed beneath wooden beams. Every suite has a bathtub, from a whirlpool to a vintage or freestanding tub. Together they sleep up to 15, and the arrangements depend on the package chosen.
Getting there, and what to settle first
From the A14 the castle gives the Forlì exit, 15 kilometres and about 20 minutes from the toll gate. Forlì airport is about 20 minutes by car and Bologna airport about an hour, and Florence is an hour and twenty minutes away. Forlì station is on the Bologna to Rimini line, with a taxi or transfer on request, and parking is available within the walls.
The castle gives its capacity as up to 200 guests, even in bad weather, and that is a ceiling for a wedding, not a confirmed seated dinner figure. With the suites sleeping 15, most guests will stay elsewhere, so plan transfers from the start. The price is on enquiry, and the castle’s pages give no catering terms or finish time, so ask for both. The castle recommends getting in touch as soon as a timeframe is in mind, especially for a Saturday between May and September.
This is a castle for a couple who want ceremony, dinner and party inside one set of walls, in a town designed as a whole. See the Castello del Capitano delle Artiglierie profile for the suites, the facts and the photographs, or browse weddings in Italy. Ready to plan? Check your date.
