Castrocielo

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Castrocielo
coat of arms
Castrocielo (Italy)
Castrocielo
Country Italy
region Lazio
province Frosinone  (FR)
Coordinates 41 ° 32 '  N , 13 ° 42'  E Coordinates: 41 ° 31 '52 "  N , 13 ° 41' 46"  E
height 250  m slm
surface 27 km²
Residents 3,911 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 145 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 03030
prefix 0776
ISTAT number 060022
Popular name Castrocielesi
Patron saint Santa Lucia
Website Castrocielo

Castrocielo is an Italian commune in the province of Frosinone in the Lazio region with 3911 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019). It is located 119 km southeast of Rome and 41 km southeast of Frosinone .

geography

Castrocielo is located on the southern slope of the Monte Cairo massif above the Liri valley . The oldest and highest district is Villa Euchelia on the left bank of the Fossato stream . The old town of Castrocielo is opposite on the slope of Monte Asprano. Most of the inhabitants of Castrocielo, however, now live in the districts of Castrocielo Stazione and Campo in the valley floor along Via Casilina (SS 6), the ancient Via Latina . Industry has also settled here.

Castrocielo is a member of the Comunità Montana Valle del Liri .

The neighboring towns are: Aquino , Colle San Magno , Piedimonte San Germano , Pontecorvo and Roccasecca .

traffic

Castrocielo is five kilometers from the A1 Autostrada del Sole motorway , Pontecorvo exit.

It is connected to the Rome - Naples railway line with the Castrocielo - Aquino train station .

history

In Roman antiquity, the area of ​​Castrocielo was populated with country estates, the villae rusticae . The poet Juvenal is said to have owned such a country villa here.

When Aquinum was destroyed by the Lombards in 577 AD , the surviving inhabitants founded the Castrum Coeli , the sky castle, on the nearby Monte Asprano . Since this place turned out to be problematic due to lack of water, the residents moved back to lower elevations in the 11th century and founded the present-day communities of Castrocielo, Colle San Magno and Roccasecca. But Aquinum was also settled again, albeit a little further east of the ancient place. Another part of the inhabitants of the former Castrum Coeli settled around the ruins of the Villa Euchelia or Eucheria , which dates from the 2nd century . it has long been part of the municipality of Castrocielo. After this palatial villa, the place bore the name Palazzolo for centuries .

In the actual complex of the Roman estate, a Benedictine monastery was founded by the Montecassino Abbey , which existed until 1442 and then gradually became a mere farmyard. The place Palazzolo has been disputed between Montecassino and the Counts of Aquino since it was founded and was called Castrum Coeli Palatiolum from around 1603 . In 1861 it became part of the Kingdom of Italy and was given the old, now Italianized name Castrocielo by royal decree on September 1, 1882. In 1927 he came from the province of Terra del Lavoro in Campania to the newly founded province of Frosinone in the Lazio region .

Population development

year 1861 1881 1901 1921 1936 1951 1971 1991 2001 2017
Residents 2,266 2,487 3,144 3,394 3.226 3,192 2,913 3.710 3,750 4.010

Source: ISTAT

politics

Laura Materiale ( PSI ) was elected one of the youngest mayors of Italy in 2001 at the age of 21. She was confirmed in office in May 2006. Her father was mayor of Castrocielo for 30 years but returned to office after the June 5, 2016 election.

Attractions

  • In the district of Villa Eucheria , considerable remains of a Roman country estate were uncovered, which is attributed without any real justification to the late antique senator Anicius Auchenius Bassus , consul of the year 408 AD in the imperial west, about whom little is known. However, it dates back to the 2nd century AD. The cryptoportico of the villa with remains of wall paintings is best preserved . The name Euchelia is said to be derived from the Auchenius part of the name, but this has not been proven. The former Benedictine monastery of S. Maria di Palazzolo (= Monacato) was established in the building complex as early as the 6th century .
  • The mighty parish church of Santa Lucia in Castrocielo with its baroque facade was consecrated in 1746, but it was the enlargement of a predecessor documented as early as 1601. The three-aisled interior, formed by ten arched pillars, was recently renovated.
  • The small Romanesque church Madonna dei Sette Dolori is located southeast of the town near Aquino on Lake Capo d'Acqua or Lake dei Cigni. The formerly existing fresco depicting the crucifixion was removed and taken to the Church of San Rocco.
  • On Monte Asprano, next to the extensive remains of the Castrum Coeli with the floor plans of the houses of the first settlement, there is the small church of Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo , which was the common parish church of Palazzolo and Colle San Magno until 1601. Every Easter Monday there is a procession to this church.
  • The small church of San Rocco at the lower beginning of the town center is now set up as a picture gallery for frescoes taken from other sacred buildings.
  • The similarly designed church Santa Maria di Loreto in the southwest of the lower local area shows in the baroque interior a right side altar and a heavily damaged fresco on the back wall depicting the Madonna with two saints.
  • In the upper town center there is a large palace building with ten axes, two balconies on the valley and mountain sides and a small belvedere.
  • In the classicistic town hall on the northern edge of the lower main square, a museum has been set up in the basement, which shows the finds of Aquinum and the late Roman villa, especially grave inventory and a metal defixion table that was made in Roman times to cursed unpleasant people.

literature

  • Bernardo Bertani: L 'affresco della crocifissione ed il restauro della Chiesa della Madonna del Pianto in Castrocielo. In: Benedictina. 24, 1977, pp. 139-147.
  • Bernardo Bertani: Sulle antiche chiese di Castrocielo. In: Benedictina. 30, 1983, pp. 109-127.
  • Bernardo Bertani: Note storiche su Castrocielo. Montecassino 2000, ISBN 88-8256-752-4 .
  • Bernardo Bertani among others: Il millennio di Castrocielo. Castrocielo 1998.
  • Filippo Coarelli: Il castello di Castrocielo e l'Aquino preromana. Cassino 1997. (Occasional Publication)
  • Daniela Cortiglia - Luca Bellincioni: Castelli perduti del Lazio ei loro segreti. Aprilia, 2011, ISBN 978-88-89713-27-3 .
  • Grimoaldo Di Sotto - Pietro Montellanico: Gli affreschi medievali dell'antica contea di Aquino: Aquino, Castrocielo, Caprile, Roccasecca. Cittiglio 2007.
  • Serena Romano: Affreschi da S. Maria del Monacato a Castrocielo (e un'aggiunta da Roccasecca). In: Arte Medievale. 3, 1989, pp. 155-166.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.