Arquata del Tronto in the Province of Ascoli Piceno
Arquata del Tronto was originally known as the Roman Surpicanum statio, i.e. a stopping station along the Salarian Road. Nowadays, it is famous for being the "city with two National Parks" ("Il paese dai due Parchi Nazionali"). The village overlooks a valley bearing the same name and Vettore Mountain (m. 2476), the highest peak of the Marchigiano Appennines, just opposite to the crests of the Laga Mountains. The territory of this commune serves as the confluence of four regions: The Marches, Abruzzo, Umbria and Lazio, a strategic position that has brought Arquata, since antiquity, its fair share of territorial and political disputes.
The XIIIth-XVth century Arquata Fortress (Rocca di Arquata) was erected under Queen Giovanna II d'Angiò, who, according to tradition, resided there from 1414 to 1435. The Fortress has a hexagonal tower on the south side and is surrounded by battlement walls bearing a bird's tail form. Its ample courtyard was originally used as a billet. Porta S. Agata, which opens the city towards the nearby village of Spelonga, contains the only remains of the old city walls.
Among the most important religious monuments, one will find Annunziata Church (chiesa dell'Annunziata), which houses a wooden polychrome crucifix from the 1200s and, at Borgo, St. Francesco Church (chiesa di S. Francesco) with its fresco of the Madonna and Child with Saints (Madonna con Bambino e Santi), attributed to Cola dell'Amatrice.
For those who delight in snow sports and excursions, Arquata offers Forca Canapine, a mountain pass locality offering a vast range of itineraries from mountain top to mountain base excursions as well as excellent skiing facilities, such as ski-lifts and chair-lifts.
Proceeding on foot along an arduous climb to the summit and passing Forca di Presta Pass, after a short descent, the sight opens to Piane di Castelluccio.
After Fucino, this valley, with its 18 Km stretch, is considered the biggest Karst-formation basin in Italy. Further ahead, Pilate's Lake (Lago di Pilato) may be reached by climbing Monte Vettore from Forca di Presta. It is an excursion of intermediate difficulty taking about three hours. Descending from the opposite side of Vettore Mountain, you can reach Lago di Pilato, which assumes a suggestive eyeglass shape in summer. The name of the lake derives from a local legend. According to antique storytellers, Pontius Pilate's corpse was taken by horse to this place after his death. This small lacustral basin is the home of an extremely rare tiny crostacean, the Chirocephalus Marchesonii, named after the scientist who first classified it in 1954.
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