This fortified farmhouse was erected in the middle of the ninth century and it looked like a tower-house whose facilities served to shelter agricultural commodities. The Castle of La Rancia was enlarged in the fourteenth century by order of Rudolph II dof Varano and it was also used as a residence. The keep , about 25 meters high, is divided into six flooers connected by a spiral staircase. In the ealry fifteen century, Braccio da Montone, a distinguished leader from Perugia, arrived in the Marca to fight against Ludovico Migliorati, Lord of Fermo, and took up quarters in the castle. In the 1430s and 1440s Francesco Sforza, his wife and part of his army were accomomodated in the castle, where Niccolo Piccinio signs a peace treaty in 1442 in the service of the Pope. One of the most important dates to remember are 2 and 3 of May 1815 when all around the castle was the scene of a raging battle between the French army of Gioacchino Murat, king of Naples and Napoleon's brother-in-law, and the Austrian troops of General Federico Bianchi.