Tenuta Santa Elisabetta

The Battle of Castelfidardo was fought on 18 September 1860, at Castelfidardo, a small town in the Marche region of Italy; the Piedmont army, acting as the driving force in the war for Italian unification, won a famous battle against papal troops.

As a result of this battle, the Marches and Umbria entered in the Kingdom of Italy and the extent of the papal states was reduced to the area of what is today known as Lazio.

The battle is remembered for being bloody, and for the highly disparate numbers of troops - less than 10,000 papal soldiers to 60,000 Piedmontese. The papal army was composed of volunteers from many different European countries, amongst whom the French and Belgian nationals constituted a Franco-Belgian battalion. Among the French volunteers were a notable number of young nobles from western France. The sacrifice of so beautiful youth of France had touched and continues to touch the hearts of people that every year there are a number of French tourists visiting the places of battle, especially from the heights of the Sanctuary of Loreto.

A further place we suggest to visit is surely the Marche National Monument in Castelfidardo, one of the most important in Italy declared monument of high national gratitude and solemnly. It is located nearby historical city centre upon the Monte Cucco hill.

This monument has been realized with molten bronze by Vito Pardo in 1910 during fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Castelfidardo and unveiled on 1912 Sept the 18th.

That battle allowed the annexation of Marche and Umbria to Italian Reign of Vittorio Emanuele III, an achievement sanctified with the blood of many young people who should never be forgotten.