The Fortezza del Annunziata is an ancient Ligurian fortress, located near the town of Ventimiglia. Together with other fortresses of Castel d'Appio and Forte San Paolo it was part of a defensive system created around Ventimiglia during the rule of the Genoese Republic and the reign of Napoleon. In particular, the fortress was built in the first decades of the 19th century - after the signing in 1815, the year of the Treaty of Paris, caused the overthrow of Napoleon. In this agreement, at the request of the Austrian Empire part of the compensation that was supposed to pay the French state, was provided to the Sardinian Kingdom to strengthen the Western borders of Piedmont and Liguria. In addition, the opening of the new coastal road to France (today's via Aurelia), was the reason that Austria has come forward with new claims. Therefore, it was decided to build in Ventimiglia, which was considered a strategic point, a fortified citadel to control the passage to the North-West of Italy and the Po plain.
The original structure of the Fortezza del Annunziata was used as a monastery of the order of friars minor and was known as the Convento del Annunziata. In 1831, the year the Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel Malaussena Podesta was commissioned to transform the building of the monastery in the casemates - the project also involved the Lieutenant Benso Camillo, count Cavour. The new fortress was connected with powerful defensive walls and underground tunnels from the Fort Sao Paolo 13th century. However, in 1883, the year of Ventimiglia lost their status of a fortress and a year later Ridotta was disarmed and converted into infantry barracks, and the Fort of San Paolo was demolished. Subsequently Ricotta was abandoned, and after the Second World war, was transferred to the municipality of Ventimiglia, who in turn, gave the fortress to the Council for tourism and rest.
From 1990, the year at the Fortezza del Annunziata houses the City's archaeological Museum Girolamo Rossi. The Museum is named after local scholar and discoverer of the ruins of the Roman theatre and fragments of residential buildings ancient Albintimilium. In six halls with a total area of 1200 sq. m. exposed important archaeological finds of terracotta figurines, one of the most interesting in Liguria tombstones of the 1st to 4th centuries ad, the collection of sculptures of Thomas Hanbury, a collection of ceramics, artifacts from cemeteries, etc.
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The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.
