Castel Manfrino

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Castel Manfrino
Ruins of Castel Manfrino

Ruins of Castel Manfrino

Creation time : 12-13 century
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruins
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Sella di Castel Manfrino ( Valle Castellana )
Geographical location 42 ° 44 '50.6 "  N , 13 ° 35' 23.1"  E Coordinates: 42 ° 44 '50.6 "  N , 13 ° 35' 23.1"  E
Height: 926  m slm
Castel Manfrino (Abruzzo)
Castel Manfrino

The Castel Manfrino is the ruin of a hilltop castle near the settlement of Sella di Castel Manfrino in the neighborhood of the Macchia da Sole district of the Italian municipality of Valle Castellana in the province of Teramo . The municipality belongs to the Comunità Montana della Laga .

The remains of the old fortress are difficult to see today because they have been badly damaged by the long period of decay.

location

The ruins of the defensive post can be found 926 meters above sea level on a rocky promontory overlooking the cliffs that dominate the course of the Salinello River on the border between the provinces of Ascoli Piceno and Teramo.

The height rises in the Monti Gemelli , between the Montagna dei Fiori and the Montagna di Campli . The place, strategically important and with a wide panoramic view, offers a wide view of the valleys below, suitable for checking and monitoring the passageways that meander through the area, from the Salinello valley to the Rivolta ditch .

The site can be reached from the state road 81 “Piceno Aprutina”, which connects the cities of Ascoli Piceno and Teramo . From there, turn onto provincial road 52 and follow the signs to the Macchia da Sole district . From this settlement a dirt road leads along the mountainside in about 20 minutes on foot to the remains of the castle.

  • Panoramic view over the Salinellotal

  • Panoramic view from the north tower of the castle ruins

  • signpost

  • Dirt road

history

The castle was built on the remains of an old Roman fortress to defend the road that branches off from Via Salaria near Amatrice , over the so-called Passo di Annibale (English: Hannibal Pass) and into the plain of Campovalano flows. The castle , which was built in the late Middle Ages between the 12th and 13th centuries, owes its name to Manfred of Sicily , the son of Emperor Friedrich II. The historian Secondo Balena from Ascoli Piceno also cites the names "Castello di re Manfredi" or "Castel Manfredino" which over time became "Castel Manfrino". In the literature the castle is also called "Castrum Maccle" (German: Macchia Castle). In the Catalogus Baronum the name of the fief is given as “Macclam in Asculo”.

The small fort served as an observation and lookout point to control the course of the road that started on the south side of the Montagna dei Fiori and led from Civitella del Tronto up to the mountain, from which one could observe the north side on which the city is located Ascoli Piceno is located.

The castle was built at the behest of Manfred of Sicily. It was built on the remains of a previous fortress structure in order to control, together with the fortress Civitella del Tronto, the only roads that led through the mountains and connected Ascoli Piceno with Teramo, better known as "Percorsi dell'Abruzzo Ascolano" (Eng .: roads about the Ascolan Abruzzo).

In the 13th century, after the disappearance of Manfred of Sicily, the castle fell to Armellino di Macchia di Giacomo , who was later expelled and considered a rebel. From this it passed to Pietro d'Isola , an Angevinen who was killed in the attack carried out by the Ascolans on the orders of his predecessor Armellino . The Ascolans began the attack after the innumerable deals they had with Charles I of Naples , and the castle has long been the subject of bitter disputes to boast of "the old rights". In 1273 Riccardo di Agello received the fief.

1280–1281, Charles I of Naples commissioned the master Pierre d'Angicourt , the same builder who had designed the Castello di Barletta when he was employed in Abruzzo, to design a defense tower to be built inside the Castro di Macchia and with the planning of suitable restoration work. The tower was to serve as a watchtower and was to be placed near the entrance to the enclosure. Inside, a cistern for collecting rainwater was to be provided on the ground floor, an air chamber on the first floor, and the two floors above that were to be used for residential purposes. The entrance door to the Angevin tower should be provided on the south side at a safe height above the ground.

In 1361, after the defeat of Manfred of Sicily and Conradin and the disappearance of the Ghibelline dynasty of the Cola di Macchia through treason, Castel Manfrino was no longer under the sphere of influence of the Ascoli Piceno and came under the jurisdiction of the regents of Naples from the House of Anjou .

  • Ruins of Castel Manfrino. In the background the Montagna dei Fiori

  • Ruins of the castle from the west

description

The floor plan of the castle is elongated and oriented in a north-south direction. The enclosing walls of the fortress were built in such a way that they made the most of the natural defensibility of the place and followed the profile of the ledge on which they sit. The only opening is the entrance in the surrounding wall.

The complex is made of river stones that have been cemented and only smoothed on the outside; it extends to about 120 meters in length and the interior width varies from 8 meters to 20 meters. The wall is between 0.5 and 1 meter thick. The complex has no bastions , which perhaps originally only existed near the entrance in the north.

On the opposite side of the entrance is the still partially preserved and visible tower without an entrance on the ground floor, which is divided into several floors by wooden walkways and served partly as a dwelling for the castellan , partly as a place of defense, if necessary. From this, which has a square floor plan with a side length of about 10 meters, the first floor, the upper part of which consists of only a few stumps of wall on the west and east sides, the cistern and a wall facing west remain. The silhouettes of other rooms also extend beyond the base and reach the base of a second tower, the center of which is about 10 meters high. The outside of this tower shows a sooty hood on which the oil that was supposed to spill over the enemies should have been boiled. This thesis is supported by the discovery of two boilers in the Rivoltabach below .

Within the surrounding wall there are remains of a presumably small chapel with a rectangular floor plan next to the southern tower. A document from 1277 refers to the permanent presence of a chaplain in the castle, which supports the assumption that there was a cult site there. Faint traces of frescoes are visible at the bottom of the remains of the wall .

The construction of Castel Manfrino is very similar to that of other fortifications in the province of L'Aquila , such as the Castello di San Pio delle Camere .

  • Remains of the southern tower with part of the inside of the surrounding wall

  • Ruin of a tower called Maschio (German: Bock) in the middle of the enclosure

  • Ruin of the north tower

  • Wall next to the Suevi Maschio

  • Remnants of the enclosure

  • Wall surrounding part of the inner area of ​​the enclosure

  • Wooden walkway that follows part of the walkway

Finds

The technical report of the studies carried out by the Consorzio Aprutino Patrimonio Storico e Artistico lists the following results during excavations in different periods:

  • various iron arrowheads classified as "tiles".
  • Ceramic fragments dated to the 16th and 17th centuries.
  • various pavement stratigraphies under today's flooring.
  • some coins.
  • Traces of frescoes appeared during the excavation of the tower.

  • Wall with traces of frescoes inside the enclosure

  • Detail of one of the traces of the fresco

  • Detail of one of the traces of the fresco

  • Detail of one of the traces of the fresco

  • Detail of a hole in a wall inside the fence

  • Detail of a presumed chimney of the Suevi tower

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Castel Manfrino . CastelManfrino.it. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Castrum Maccle (Castel Manfrino) . Abruzzo region. Archived from the original on May 8, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Castel Manfrino . Provincia di Teramo. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  4. ^ Nicola Palma: Storia Civile ed Ecclesiastica della città e diocesi di Teramo . Teramo 1832.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Arturo Stuard: Castello Manfrino . In: Da archittura e urbanistica nel medioevo teramano . Cassa di Risparmo della Provincia di Teramo. 1980. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved on May 6, 2020.
  6. ↑ a b c Secondo Balena: Ascoli nel Piceno - storia di Ascoli e degli ascolani . Società Editrice Ricerche, Stampa Grafiche D'Auria, Ascoli Piceno December 1999. ISBN 88-86610-11-4 . P. 220.
  7. ^ La valle dell'alto Vomano ed i Monti della Laga in Documenti dell'Abruzzo Teramano . Volume 2. DAT III, 2nd edition. Cassa di Risparmo della Provincia di Teramo. Carsa, Pescara 1991. p. 477.
  8. ^ Secondo Balena: Ascoli nel Piceno - storia di Ascoli e degli ascolani . Società Editrice Ricerche, Stampa Grafiche D'Auria, Ascoli Piceno December 1999. ISBN 88-86610-11-4 . P. 221.
  9. ^ Bernardo Carfagna: Rocche e castelli dell'ascolano . La Sfinge Malaspina, Ascoli Piceno 1996. Stampa Editoriale Eco, S. Gabriele 1996. p. 123.

swell

  • Arturo Stuard: Castello Manfrino . In: Da archittura e urbanistica nel medioevo teramano . Cassa di Risparmo della Provincia di Teramo. 1980. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved on May 6, 2020.
  • La valle dell'alto Vomano ed i Monti della Laga in Documenti dell'Abruzzo Teramano . Volume 2. DAT III, 2nd edition. Cassa di Risparmo della Provincia di Teramo. Carsa, Pescara 1991.
  • Bernardo Carfagna: Rocche e castelli dell'ascolano . La Sfinge Malaspina, Ascoli Piceno 1996. Stampa Editoriale Eco, S. Gabriele 1996.
  • Secondo Balena: Ascoli nel Piceno - storia di Ascoli e degli ascolani . Società Editrice Ricerche, Stampa Grafiche D'Auria, Ascoli Piceno December 1999. ISBN 88-86610-11-4 .
  • Alessandro Mucciante: Testimonianze preistoriche nella grotta di S. Maria Scalena a Civitella del Tronto . Museo delle Genti d'Abruzzo. Quaderno No. 32, 2000. pp. 88-102.

Web links

Commons : Castel Manfrino  - collection of images, videos and audio files