The Medieval Fortress is one of the town’s military bastions. It was a place of passage for the Podestà and of crucial events, such as the death of the Orsini brothers, reported by Machiavelli in chapter VII of The Prince.
Among the city’s first governors, in 1529, was Giandomenico de Cupis or De Cuppi, born in Rome to a family originally from Montefalco. He was a Cardinal and Bishop and was part of the Conclave that elected Pope Julius III del Monte, uncle of Ascanio della Corgna, in 1549-1550. His family coat of arms is also depicted on the façade of the main tower.