| Description: |
Although the first reliable document related to the village dates back to the early XI century, additional archeological evidence suggest the existence here of a very ancient Picenian settlement. Some scholars even believe to recognize traces of the mysterious Novana, an ancient Roman town of the area mentioned Plinio the Elder. Certainly the current village was founded during the first Lombard invasion, maybe by groups of refugees coming from the less sheltered areas. In the XI century, Longino di Azzone, a Lombard feudal lord, handed it over to the Farfa Abbey, which strengthened its devensive system by building that impressive fortification complex which, in 1239, resisted two years to the siege of King Enzo, the son of Frederick II.
The little town maintained its indipendence and a ‘Podestà’ of its own, until Sisto V incorporated the Farfa Abbey’s possessions in the Church State and entrusted the ‘Presidiato’ of Montalto, which he had commissioned to build, with the task of managing them. In the centuries that followed up till the birth of the new Italian kingdom, the small town remained a possession of the Papal State.
Text by Fabio Santilli
Translation by Gianfranco Martorano |