Castle of Rocca Calascio | |
---|---|
Castello di Rocca Calascio | |
Coordinates | 42°19′44″N13°41′20″E / 42.328967°N 13.688944°E |
Type | Fortress |
Site information | |
Condition | Partially ruinous |
Site history | |
Built | 10th century |
Materials | stone and masonry |
The Castle of Rocca Calascio is a mountaintop fortress or rocca in the municipality of Calascio, in the Province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy.
At an elevation of around 1,460 metres (4,790 ft), the castle is the highest fortress in the Apennines. Built of stone and masonry exclusively for military purposes and intended only to accommodate troops and never as a residence for nobles, the fortress overlooks the Plain of Navelli at one of the highest points in the ancient Barony of Carapelle.
Construction of the fortress started in the tenth century as a single watchtower. A walled courtyard with four cylindrical towers at the corners around a taller inner tower was added in the thirteenth century. The lower half of the fortress is built with distinctively larger stones than its upper half. It is believed that this feature was to make its base impenetrable to invaders. The fortress was never tested in battle. However, it was badly damaged in November 1461 by the 1461 L'Aquila earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7 to 8 on the Richter Scale. [1] While the town of Calascio, which lies below the fortress, was rebuilt, the fortress was not. [2]
The Castle of Rocca Calascio lies within the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park and alongside the high plain of Campo Imperatore.
Near the fortress, at a slightly lower elevation, is Santa Maria della Pietà, an octagonal church built in the seventeenth century.
The Castle of Rocca Calascio was the location for several scenes in the Richard Donner film Ladyhawke . [3] [4] Sequences for The Name of the Rose and The American were also filmed here.
Abruzzo, historically known as Abruzzi, is a region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four provinces: L'Aquila, Teramo, Pescara, and Chieti. Its western border lies 80 km (50 mi) east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and north-west, Molise to the south and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Geographically, Abruzzo is divided into a mountainous area in the west, which includes the highest massifs of the Apennines, such as the Gran Sasso d'Italia and the Maiella, and a coastal area in the east with beaches on the Adriatic Sea.
L'Aquila is a city and comune in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. As of 2023, it has a population of 69,558 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the Aterno river, it is surrounded by the Apennine Mountains, with the Gran Sasso d'Italia to the north-east.
The province of L'Aquila is the largest, most mountainous and least densely populated province of the Abruzzo region of Italy. It comprises about half the landmass of Abruzzo and occupies the western part of the region. It has borders with the provinces of Teramo to the north, Pescara and Chieti to the east, Isernia to the south and Frosinone, Rome and Rieti to the west. Its capital is the city of L'Aquila.
The province of Chieti is a province in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city Chieti, which has a population of 50,770 inhabitants. The province has a total population of 387,649 inhabitants as of 2017 and spans an area of 2,599.58 square kilometres (1,003.70 sq mi). The province contains 104 comuni. Its provincial president is Mario Pupillo.
Pacentro is a comune of 1,279 inhabitants of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is a well-preserved historic medieval village located in central Italy, several kilometers from the City of Sulmona about 170 kilometres (110 mi) east of Rome. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Acciano is a comune in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The small, medieval village is in the Subequana valley and is a part of the Sirentina Mountain Community.
Bugnara is a comune and village in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of southern Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Calascio is a comune and village in the province of L'Aquila, in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park.
Carapelle Calvisio is a comune and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is located in the natural park known as the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park at 900 metres (3,000 ft) above sea level. It is mostly known as being one of the smallest non-alpine comunes in Italy, with 85 inhabitants as of 31 December 2013. This town is also the smallest community in Abruzzo. It is located directly some kilometers from the historical castle Rocca Calascio.
Castel del Monte is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and comune in the province of L'Aquila in northern Abruzzo, Italy. Located in the heart of the Gran Sasso mountain range, the town is set into a steep hillside nestled beneath mountain peaks near the high plain of Campo Imperatore. Castel del Monte sits opposite the ancient mountaintop fortress of Rocca Calascio and faces Monte Sirente in the distance. It is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Santo Stefano di Sessanio is a comune and hill town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of southern Italy. Located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park, in the highest region of the Apennines, this medieval hill town sits adjacent to the high plain of Campo Imperatore. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
The Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park is a natural park in central Italy. Established in 1991, it covers an area of 2,014 square kilometres (778 sq mi), mostly within the provinces of Teramo, L'Aquila, and Pescara in Abruzzo, with small areas in the provinces of Rieti in Lazio and Ascoli Piceno in Marche. The terrain is predominantly mountainous with alpine plains.
Tourism in Abruzzo has become one of the most prosperous sectors in the economy of Abruzzo, and in recent years has seen a remarkable growth attracting numerous tourists from Italy and Europe. According to statistics, in 2021 arrivals totaled 1,330,887. A total of 5,197,765 arrivals were tourists, a figure that puts the region seventeenth among the Italian regions for numbers of tourists per year. A moderate support to tourism is also given to the Abruzzo Airport with many low cost and charter flights connecting the entire region with the rest of Europe.
Rocca Orsini is a Middle Ages castle in Scurcola Marsicana, Province of L'Aquila (Abruzzo).
Castello ducale Cantelmo is a Middle Ages castle in Popoli Terme, Province of Pescara (Abruzzo).
Chiesa di Santa Giusta is a Romanesque church in L'Aquila (Abruzzo).
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo, a region of Italy.
Assergi is a frazione of the comune of L'Aquila, located about 11 km (6.8 mi) from the capital. With a population of just over 500, it is situated at an altitude of approximately 1,000 meters, below the western slope of the Gran Sasso in a small plain called the Piana di Assergi (Plain of Assergi). Assergi was formerly included in the comune of Camarda, which is directly to its south.
On 27 November 1461, a powerful earthquake and series of aftershocks struck Italy's Abruzzo region along the Aterno River. The tremors caused widespread damage to Abruzzo's capital, L'Aquila, and the surrounding villages. At least 80 people are recorded to have died and numerous people were injured by the earthquakes. The quakes also caused major, permanent damage to religious sites and changed politics for L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region.