| Description: |
Due to the strong impact provoked into anyone who is approaching it, Montefortino is often referred to as the ‘borgo incantato’ (‘enchanted village’). Indeed, the sight of the buildings laid up spirally one upon the other all around the hill at 700metres; the setting of the mountain stronghold and the effective scenery of the peaks of the Sibillini mountains and their little reassuring names: Monte Sibilla, Pizzo della Regina, Pizzo del Diavolo, Infernaccio Gorge; they all command awe-inspiring views of such a strong impact to fill the visitor with dismay. On entering the borgo, however, this first impression leaves way to the temptation of considering this an ideal point of departure for a virtual tour, through well-kept little lanes, along the artistic and social history of all the sites of this mountain area: from Porta Santa Lucia in Gothic style to the XVI century Palazzo Leopardi and on to the ‘Tempietto dell’Orologio’, in Neoclassic style (here Fortunato Duranti died), and to the organization of the rural territory of the latest centuries, with the widespread presence of the ‘Comunanze’, a collectiv system of the use of the resources of this land, evidence of the ‘silvo-pastorale’ activities which are the backbone of the economic life of quite a few villages in this area.
Text by Fabio Santilli
Translation by Gianfranco Martorano |