Civitella del Tronto () is a town and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' in the

province of Teramo The province of Teramo (; Neapolitan language, Abruzzese: ') is a provinces of Italy, province in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Teramo. The province has an area of , a population of 313,029 (2012), and is subdivided into ...

, within the

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

region of central

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is in the

Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park The Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park is a natural park in central Italy. Established in 1991, it covers an area of , mostly within the provinces of Teramo, L'Aquila, and Pescara in Abruzzo, with small areas in the provinces of Rieti ...

. It is one of

I Borghi più belli d'Italia () is a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest, that was founded in March 2001 on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities, with the a ...

("The most beautiful villages of Italy").

History

The origins of Civitella are unknown, though in the area have been found traces of human presence as early as the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Upper Palaeolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

ages. The current town is believed to lie on the former Beregra, a town of the Piceni Italic tribe. It is first mentioned in the 10th to 11th centuries, as a walled town; in the 13th century it was part of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

, having a special importance as it was on the boundaries with the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

. In 1557 it was besieged by French troops, but in vain. Thanks to its fierce resistance, it was given the title of ''Fidelissima'' ("Very Faithful") by King

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

(at the time southern Italy was under Spanish control). Civitella was besieged again by the French during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, in 1798 and 1806, this time being captured after four months of defence. In 1816, after the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, it was annexed to the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by popula ...

. The fortress of Civitella was the location of the last stand of that Kingdom after the Garibaldine and Piedmontese invasion of 1860, after the King Francis II had already surrendered in

Gaeta Gaeta (; ; Southern Latian dialect, Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a seaside resort in the province of Latina in Lazio, Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples. The city has played ...

, Naples and Sicily being annexed to the newly formed

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

. Civitella surrendered on 20 March 1861.

Main sights

The Fortress of Civitella is the largest in Italy, the second in Europe after the Hohensalzburg in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It is located on the top of a rocky cliff, being about long and wide, for a total surface of . Civitelladeltronto flickr02

The town has the following churches: *'' San Francesco'': built in 1326 in Gothic- Romanesque style, while the interior is Baroque *'' San Lorenzo'': rebuilt in the 18th century in Baroque style, but maintaining the Renaissance façade. *'' Santa Maria degli Angeli'' (15th-16th centuries) *Sanctuary and Convent of '' Santa Maria dei Lumi'': (1466) It includes a Romanesque portico and a polychrome wooden statue of the ''Madonna dei Lumi'', dating to 1489. *'' Abbey of Santa Maria in Montesanto'': Founded, according to the legend, by St. Benedict of Nursia himself in 542, in the 12th century it was one of the most powerful abbeys in the region; it started to decay from the late 15th century. The surrounding mountains have

karst topography Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

in the landscapes of the

Montagna dei Fiori Montagna dei Fiori (Italian: "Mountain of the Flowers") is a mountain group in the Abruzzo, central Italy, forming the Monti Gemelli massif, together with the Montagna di Campli. It is located nearby the boundary between the province of Teramo a ...

Plan_of_the_siege_of_Civitella_del_Tronto

Twin towns

, Austria, since 1989 *

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; ; ) is a (municipality) and capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Italy, Italian region of Marche. Geography The town lies at the confluence of the Tronto, River Tronto and the small Castellano (river), River Castell ...

, Italy, since 2015

References

Cities and towns in Abruzzo Borghi più belli d'Italia {{Abruzzo-geo-stub

History

Main sights

Twin towns

See also

References