The majestic medieval Castle raising on the village of Roccascalegna has been its symbol and its essence since year One Thousand, when the Longobards laid the first cornerstone of the fortress. Along the centuries it has been reworked and broadened with towers, fortified walls and a cistern to collect rainwaters, by the several land-owners and barons form Normans to Angioini-Aragonesi, from Carafa to Annechino who came in succession until 1985 when the last descendants of the family Croce Nanni gave the run-down fortress to the municipality.

One of the best-known in Abruzzo, the Medieval Castle, with its walls clinging to the rocky cliff, underwent long restauration works and since 1996 it has been a cultural centre for Roccascalegna as well as an evocative location for romantic weddings, exhibitions, conferences and a special set for historic films and TV shootings. Indeed, its dreamlike and fairy-tale scenario has been the setting for some world-known scenes of “The name of the Rose” and “Tale of Tales” by Matteo Garrone. The story of the imposing castle melts into tales and popular legends, the most imaginative of which is a late medieval tradition, when the barons had the “Jus primae noctis” that is the right to spend the first night after the wedding with the women of the town, who had to lie with the baron rather than with their just-married husband.

Below the Castle, religious life went on in the Church of Saint Peter the Apostle and its underground cemetery dating back to 1461. A refined eighteenth-century gate on a baroque façade give access to the three-naves of the church, built in different periods. The main altar is dedicated to Santa Maria del Popolo. The natural stone bell tower, settled on a spur of the castle, is the most ancient and original architectural element, being the same age of the early church and renovated in 1805.

[Credits | Text: Ottavio Di Renzo De Laurentis | Translation: Mirella Rapa | Voice and music: Studio Qreate | Photo: Laura Di Biase]