The Nobili Vitelleschi family
The union with the Vitelleschi family
During the second half of the Fifteenth Century, after another war against the lords of Luco over the borders, the de’ Nobili family was excommunicated due to the murder of a minister by the hand of Giovanni de’ Nobili and lost its authority over Labro, alongside the dominion over the upper part of the town. The excommunication was revoked only in the year 1476.
After being cast out, the only privileges that the de’ Nobili family still held were their noble name and the defensive walls of the original castle of Labro.
Thus, between the end of the Fifteenth Century and the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, Giordano de’ Nobili (1430-1510) gave order to erect on the inner side of the walls the new family palace. The remaining parts of the old castle were demolished or converted into something new. The high tower used as a lookout post was torn down and the base of it where the old armory was located, was incorporated in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore with its overlooking chapel that can be seen to this very day.
The building that can be visited today is the one conceived by Giordano de' Nobili, with a few more interventions and adjustments in the following centuries, up until the ‘20s of the XX century.
From the legend of the foundation to the Sixteenth Century
The story regarding the foundation of Labro cannot be historically pinpointed, but legend has it that Berardo degli Arroni is the founder of the castle on the hill where Labro stands. He was the one that chose the burg as seat of dwelling for his family between the IX to the X century. It can be speculated that there was already a Roman settlement in the area, perhaps even an older one.
Berardo was nicknamed «the noble one of Labro» and from this nickname the actual family’s last name Nobili derived, a name that over the centuries governed the fiefdom and the whole territory subjected to it; and today its heirs still reside inside the old castle.
From apex to downfall
In the year 1575 with the wedding ceremony between Girolamo Nobili and Virginia Vitelleschi, last heir to her family, the two families unified their family names to not let the Vitelleschi name disappear from records. Even the two coat of arms coalesced: the imperial eagle and the trout, a symbol of fishing rights over the rivers and lakes (Nobili) with white lilies and calves (Vitelleschi).Today, the heirs of the Nobili Vitelleschi Family accompany visitors through the rooms and nooks of their castle.
In the Eighteenth Century, Francesco Nobili Vitelleschi was appointed «Chief chamberlain» of Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg. The emperor seal is still treasured in the family’s archive.
In the Nineteenth Century the family was quite wealthy until the new set of rules issued by Napoleon brought to an abrupt end with the old feudal system.The Majorat was dismissed as well; a law by which principles the firstborn would inherit everything. From that time onwards the family riches would be divided among children. All it took was just one generation for the family to lose all its wealth. At the end of the Nineteenth Century all that the Nobili Vitelleschi had left was a distant memory of the great net worth they once held.
The Castle is open to visits,
for more information consult the website: https://www.castellodilabro.com/
Between diplomacy and heroism during the occupation
During the Second World War, Labro has been under occupation by the Germans. The Marquises Pietro and Maria Giovanna Nobili Vitelleschi (born Westergaard) would play along: they would host the German officers and give them something to eat in the castel’s rooms to try and keep a good relationship with them; while doing that, in the cellars, away from any suspicions, they would offer a safe haven to officers and soldiers of the British Army.
In 1944, after partisans killed a German officer, there was a thorough search by the Germans and many men from Labro were apprehended to be executed. Pietro Nobili Vitelleschi offered them the chance to spend the night in the castle, trying to buy some extra time. In the meantime, the marquise Maria Giovanna, wife of him, would run on her bycicle to Piediluco to try and convince a German officer to follow her to Labro and spare the men from execution. She was a woman of Norwegian heritage with a vast knowledge, well versed in different languages, particularly in German, and on diplomacy as well.
Today, the very square where the execution should have taken place has been dedicated to Pietro e Maria Giovanna Nobili Vitelleschi as a memento for that episode.
