Leaving Jimmy and Francesca after a leisurely breakfast, we drove a short distance over and around a mountain, to the little village of Capistrano......sister city to our very own Capistrano in California. We arrived just in time for the weekly market.
We had two goals for our daily exploration, making our way to Castel del Monte, a little village high up at the top of a mountain and also to visit the site of the ancient Roman city of Amiterno, c. 96AD. We began our trip on the Plains of Navelli, an ancient trade route from Naples to Florence through the Apennini mountains. And up we went.....the road had many tonante(hairpin turns), and passed through the small village of Calascio and on towards Castel del Monte.
Looking down to the valley below.
The road was narrow and the scariest part was when we encountered an American car coming in the opposite direction.....too big for these little mountain roads!! Castel del Monte is a small village dating back to the 11 century. It has been controlled by various regional kings/ noble families throughout the centuries and is famous for a lovely church built by the Medici family. Current population, approximately 500.
And growing....
We retraced our route to the even smaller village of Calascio. Above the village is the imposing Rocca Calascio or Fortress of Calascio, elevation 4790 ft. The fortress was built in the 10 century to guard the Navelli Plain and is the highest fortress in the Apennini. It was never intended as a residence, just purely to house troops and to defend the valley below. Interestingly enough it is the location of the final scene in the film, Ladyhawke. We were able to drive to the little village built around the base and then climbed the rest of the way to the fortress. It remains in very good shape despite its age and is an excellent example of a fort with a curtain wall, central keep, drawbridge and corner towers.
We had a delicious lunch at a rifugio/ristorante just below the fortress. John had a saffron pasta and I had a delicious salad made with fresh tomatoes and barley, both specialties of the area. We continued our journey, down toward the valley and on to L'Aquila. L'Aquila is the center of the Abruzzo region and at one time the most beautiful city in central Italy. Several years ago, you might recall that there was a major earthquake in this area. It struck L'Aquila especially hard,destroying many buildings, museums, palaces and castles in the center and surrounding areas. The center of the city is still recovering and frankly, not much progress has been made. It is a sad sight. We stayed outside the city near the site of an ancient Roman town called Amiterno. We visited two very well preserved sites, an amphitheater and a coliseum, both dating back to 96 AD. The amphitheater could hold 2000 people and the coliseum could hold 6000 people.....pretty impressive! Imagine touching walls and sitting on benches that had been touched by those ancient Romans so many centuries ago.
Bring on the lions and gladiators!
Back to Rome today and then on to Sardenia to begin our week of language instruction.
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