Montalto di Castro

Montalto di Castro
Country	Italy
region	Lazio
province	Viterbo  (VT)
Coordinates	42 ° 21 '  N , 11 ° 36'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 21 '5 "  N , 11 ° 36' 28"  E
height	42  m slm
surface	189 km²
Residents	8,957 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density	47 inhabitants / km²
Post Code	01014
prefix	0766
ISTAT number	056035
Popular name	Montaltesi
Patron saint	Santi Quirino e Candido
Website	Montalto di Castro

Montalto di Castro

Montalto di Castro is a municipality in the province of Viterbo in the Italian region of Lazio with 8957 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019). It is located 105 kilometers northwest of Rome .

geography

Montalto di Castro extends in the Maremma Laziale not far from the Tyrrhenian Sea along the Via Aurelia . The municipality includes Pescia Romana, Montalto Scalo, and the seaside resorts of Montalto Marina and Marina di Pescia Romana. The excavations of the ancient city of Vulci are also located in the municipality .

history

With the name Mons Altus a settlement is first attested in a letter from Pope Leo IV (847-855) to the Bishop of Tuscania from the year 852. An army of Pope Paschal II (1099–1118) destroyed the place in 1109 in the fight against the local ruler Stefano dei Corsi. Later, the prefects of Vico and the Orsini fought over ownership, which led to a sharp decrease in population. Pope Martin V (1417–1431) declared in a bull of 1421 the place to be the north-western center of the Papal States for livestock farming.

From 1535 to 1649, Montalto shared the fate of the Duchy of Castro of the Farnese family . In 1783 Pope Pius VI. (1775–1799) to improve the situation of the population through a motu proprio , which led to success in the medium term. At that time the parish church was built and the major tenant of the area, Gonsalvo Adorno, had a large granary built in the developing coastal settlement of Pescia Romana on the border with Tuscany in 1795, the core of today's Borgo Vecchio.

Attractions

The castle of Montalto di Castro

• Parish Church of Santa Maria Assunta: neoclassical building with a high facade and an onion-dome bell tower at the left rear corner. The single-nave interior in a uniform yellow color, with the exception of the whitewashed pilaster capitals, has three side chapels, one of them with the painting of the Madonna della Vittoria. In the semicircular apse hangs a painting of the Assumption of Mary as an altarpiece, which ends in a round arch.
• Castello Orsini - Guglielmi: With a strongly romanticized overformed appearance, the building complex consists of a higher and two lower side parts with pointed arch or Guel windows and several rectangular towers, one of which can be addressed as a keep; today it is a private apartment complex.
• Fontana del Mascherone: On behalf of Pope Clement XI. Created in 1708. The building inscription praises the Pope's merit for having brought the water here through a mostly underground aqueduct.
• Torre di Montalto (Montalto Marina): Former observation tower for coastal protection, built under Pope Pius V (1566–1572).
• Granary (Montalto Marina): building opposite the tower by the Adorno and later by the Marchesi Guglielmi.

population

year	population
1871	702
1901	1,146
1921	2,073
1951	3,411
1971	6.176
1991	7,063
2001	7,653
2013	8,985

politics

Sergio Caci ( L'Ulivo ) was re-elected Mayor on May 7, 2012 and June 11, 2017.

A nuclear power plant was built near Montalto di Castro and was about to be completed in 1989. After a referendum decided to phase out nuclear power, the Alessandro Volta oil and gas power plant was built right next to it .

swell

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

Web links

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

• Montalto di Castro on www.comuni-italiani.it (Italian)