Grotto di Castro

Grotto di Castro
Country	Italy
region	Lazio
province	Viterbo  (VT)
Coordinates	42 ° 40 ′  N , 11 ° 52 ′  E Coordinates: 42 ° 40 ′ 28 "  N , 11 ° 52 ′ 18"  E
height	467  m slm
surface	39 km²
Residents	2,531 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density	65 inhabitants / km²
Post Code	01025
prefix	0763
ISTAT number	056030
Popular name	Grottani
Patron saint	Santi Flavio e Faustina
Website	Grotto di Castro

Grotte di Castro is a municipality with 2531 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) in the province of Viterbo in the Italian region of Lazio .

Grotto di Castro

geography

Grotte di Castro is located 121 km northwest of Rome , 44 km northwest of Viterbo and twelve kilometers west of Bolsena . It is located in the Monti Volsini above Lake Bolsena . The municipal area extends over a height of 305 to 576 m slm, from the lakeshore on Lake Bolsena to the level of the caldera, the former volcanic lake.

The community is a member of the Comunità Montana Alta Tuscia Laziale . The district of Mortaro belongs to the municipality.

The neighboring municipalities are Acquapendente , Gradoli , Onano and San Lorenzo Nuovo . The community is located in earthquake zone 2 (medium risk).

traffic

The municipality of Grotte di Castro is crossed by the strada regional 74 Maremmana (SR74) that goes from Orbetello to Orvieto and crosses Via Cassia at three kilometers . The nearest train station is in Montefiascone .

history

Grotto had a predecessor place from Etruscan times, which is modernly referred to as Civita. In the course of the late migration period , the present-day location was built on its hill during the raids of Arabs and Hungarians around 900. Coming under the control of the Marquis of Tuscany , it was placed under papal authority through the gift of Mathilde of Tuscia in 1115. In 1537 Pope Paul III transferred (1534–1549) his son Pier Luigi II. Farnese with the newly created Duchy of Castro also the later so-called Grotte di Castro. When Pope Innocent X (1644-1655) in the wake of the second Castro War in 1649 this rule formations picked up, came Grotto on duration to the Papal States until 1870 that eventually became the Italian national state.

Population development

year	1881	1901	1921	1936	1951	1971	1991	2001
Residents	3513	3772	4165	4164	4177	3758	3187	2967

Source: ISTAT

politics

Piero Camilli ( PdL ) was elected mayor in June 2009. He replaced Alessandro Viviani (2004–2009), who was no longer a candidate. His center-right list also has a majority in the local council with eight out of twelve seats. Camilli was re-elected on May 25, 2014.

coat of arms

on a blue sign below a green mountain with a grotto ( talking coat of arms ), above three golden lilies from the coat of arms of the Farnese , once dukes of Castro

Attractions

Madonna del Suffragio church

• The Etruscan necropolises of La Pianezza and Vigna La Piazza from the 7th to 5th centuries BC In the vicinity of the place.
• Church of S. Pietro in the center of the village from 1118 (redesigned in 1739) with a baroque high altar and tomb of Cardinal Carlo Salotti.
• Church of Santa Maria del Suffragio from 1625 to 1672 (consecrated in 1698) on the eastern edge of the village, built according to plans by Carlo Rainaldi . Elevation to the minor basilica in 1967 by Pope Paul VI. Richly designed baroque interior with high altar in the form of a Madonna halo from 1713.
• Church of S. Maria delle Colonne in the west outside the town center with a renaissance altar and integrated reliefs.
• Former Palazzo Comunale, allegedly designed by the architect Vignola , today the seat of the Museo Archeologico e delle Tradizioni Popolari with Etruscan artefacts from the necropolises.

Culinary specialties

Grotto is known for its Patata dell'Alto Viterbese potatoes . The Sagra della Patata takes place in her honor at the end of August every year.

The red dessert wine Aleatico di Gradoli is produced within the municipality .

sons and daughters of the town

• Carlo Cardinal Salotti (* July 25, 1870, † October 24, 1947), Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina and Prefect of the Congregation for Rites in the Vatican .

literature

• Vittorio Boccadamo - Mario Cazzato: Guida di Castro: la città, il territorio, il mare e le grotte , Galatina 1994 ISBN 88-8086-011-9 .
• Francesca Ceci - Alessandra Costantini: Lazio settentrionale. Etruria meridionale e Sabina , Rome 2008 ISBN 978-88-240-1326-0 .
• Mariaflavia Marabottini - Pietro Tamburini: Grotte di Castro: il territorio, il paese, il museo , Bolsena 2007 ISBN 978-88-95066-07-3 .
• Gilda Nicolai: Il santuario di Maria SS.ma del Suffragio in Grotte di Castro , in: I santuari e la devozione mariana nell'Alto Lazio , Rome 2006, pp. 90-105.
• Simona Rafanelli: Vetulonia, Orvieto e Grotte di Castro, circoli di pietra in Etruria , Monteriggioni 2014 ISBN 978-88-98816-05-7 .
• Angelo Ruspantini: Storia di Grotte di Castro , 2nd edition Grotte di Castro 1988.

Web links

Commons : Grotte di Castro  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Grotte di Castro on www.comuni-italiani.it (Italian)
• Comunità Montana Alta Tuscia Laziale (Italian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
2. ^ Italian civil defense
3. ↑ La Repubblica June 8, 2009  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Association Tuscia Viterbese ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.