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Information about Valle Castellana in the Province of Ascoli Piceno

The town of Valle Castellana is located on the southern peaks of the Monti della Laga, peering on a cliff that overlooks the entire valley crossed by the Castellano Torrent, from which the very place-name is taken. On the borderline between the Reign of Naples and the Church State, Valle Castellana has been part of the province of Teramo since the XIVth century. Thanks to its wild terrain, this area has often been used in the post-unification period as well as during the battles of the Resistence soldiers, as a hideout for brigands and political refugees.

The landscape, mostly occupied by woods and pasture, has always influenced the local economic activities, as the residents of the territory concentrated their efforts is forest-related produce and in sheep-rearing. In the administrative centre one may admire St. Vito Church (XIIth century) with its high belfry leaning against the façade. Worth visiting is also the parish Church of Saint Rufina, with its stone portal and door overcrossed by an arch.

The typical architectural style of Teramo mountain areas is expressed in all the hamlets of Valle Castellana, some of which are left abandoned and thus even more fascinating.
Among the localities still inhabited today we would like to cite the small village of Vallinquina, surrounded by woods and home to a small Neogothic castle, whose erection was commissioned during the last century by the scholar Vincenzo Bonifaci. And then Fornisco, whose old stone buildings maintain the charming detail of rooms suspended between one building and the next.

The nearby Macchia da Sole is instead a tiny hamlet with remains of peculiar fortified houses, dating back to the XVth century. Close to it, standing on a rocky slope, lie the ruins of Castel Manfrino, an interesting archeological site, with remains of perimeter walls, towers and cistern.

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