Montegridolfo

Montegridolfo stands on the ridge dividing the Conca valley from that of the Foglia, that is Romagna from the Marche, and has always been border country between the Malatesta and the Montefeltro. In 1248 a Florentine family of the Guelph party, the Filippi, took refuge here and did something unusual: instead of giving their own name to the place, they took the name of the place, and from then on called themselves Gridolfi. On their arms they put a green olive tree, the crop of these hills.

In June 1336 the castle was destroyed by Ferrantino Novello, who had allied himself with the Montefeltro; Malatesta the Guastafamiglia rebuilt it between 1337 and 1339 as it is seen today, replacing the old palisade on earthworks with stone walls and four towers. The future pope Clement XIV spent his childhood here. And here, many centuries later, ran the Gothic Line: during the Allied attack of 1944 lieutenant Gerard Ross Norton won at Montegridolfo the Victoria Cross, the highest British military honour. The museum of the Gothic Line, in the village, tells the story of those days.