Genga is a small castle risen in the Middle Ages, together with many others which dot the high grounds of Ancona inland valleys. The castle is situated on a rocky and narrow platform of a steep undulating ground of mountain Giunguno that suddenly rises from the tortuous course of river Sentino which rises 9 km far, in Sassoferrato. The place assumes the shape of a vast basin amid the mountains Giunguno, Ercole and Gallo

Le Château conserve une grande partie de ses murailles de défense qui ont été construites au fur et à mesure que l’habitat se développait et que les menaces d’occupation rendaient nécessaire le renforcement du système de défense.

The Castle preserves almost all the defensive walls built as the urbanisation increased and the menace of enemies made the strengthening of the defence system necessary. Genga belonged always to the “Marca”. It includes twenty four outlying villages; it borders Sassoferrato, Fabriano, Serra S.Quirico and Arcevia. The Town Council crest is the ancient one of its Counts: the crowned black eagle on blue field.

You enter the village through the only access, a fortified arch, where may still be seen the lodgings of the guards who in the past had the task of defending the built-up area between the old and the modern Counts’ Palace. From the top it is possible to have an immediate view of the entire valley, which, though not greatly extensive , is agreeable for its convulsive variation of the territory and for the alternate images of glittering chromatic expanses of bare rocks and of changing vibrations of green woods.

The network and the structure of the village, among churches, streets and buildings, match, in perfect harmony, the quality of the environment and the functional building project. The arc door takes you right in the heart of the urban area, presenting, with immediate genuineness, the institutional symbols which inhabitants’ public life is based on: Our Lady of the Assumption Church and Counts of Genga’s Palace.

Counts’ Palace In this steep and contradictory place for the sweetness of its climate and the presence of ancient times, Genga presents itself with its high buildings, disposed in groups, in the area delimited by the medieval boundaries and natural barriers. The architecture of the castle, then, takes example from the defensive typologies of Marches, where military artifice takes advantage of the predisposition of the territory, resulting both mean and dreadful. It’s an architecture that ends in ornaments and decorations which refine its hardness. The houses scramble up the rock that is severe and reserved, but sensitive and generous like the inhabitants of these places.

The village is simple and harmonious, crossed by an only street that follows the perimeter of the ancient walls. After having turned around the old church of Saint Michael you reach the main square from which others narrow streets depart; there you can find the church of Saint Clemente. The origin of the castle goes back in ancient times. Legends bring it back to the times of King Pirro, when Lucio Sentinate, soldier of that king, bought mountain Giunguno and there built the Castle of Genga. Triptych of Antonio from Fabriano.