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ARQUATA DEL TRONTO

Coordinates: Latitude 42°46'24"96 N Longitude 13°17'49"92 E

Altitude: 777 m above sea level

Inhabitants: arquatani

Area code: 0736

Postcode: 63096

Position: Seat of the Borough of Arquata del Tronto. The chief town is strategically positioned on a hill, dominating the valley and the Salaria road below.  The imposing fortress of the Rocca is a fortification that originated in the XIII century and whose towers loom over the town

Place name:  The name derives from the Latin term arx, a fortified hill or mountain, because of its Rocca. Others believe the place name derives from the term arcuata, referring to a place no more precisely specified than grotto.

Places of interest:

1: CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA

S. Annunziata is the parish church of Arquata del Tronto and stands within the town on an open square leading to the Rocca. The building has only one nave, with a saddle roof, a choir stall and elegant wooden altars. On the main altar a XVI century canvas depicts the Annunciation and at the side on a quoin of sandstone there is a precious crucifix.

2: THE WOODEN CRUCIFIX

The wooden crucifix dates back to the XIII century and was kept in the church of San Salvatore. It is a polychrome work, 145 cm high and 145 cm wide, with an average thickness of 20 cm.

The Byzantine style cross is the result of the collaboration of two religious Benedictines, Fra’Raniero and Fra’Berardo, who signed their work at the bottom. The figure of Christ is much stylised, the rigidity both in its arms and lower limbs being a typical characteristic of popular art in that period.

In the past it was housed in the church of S. Salvatore di Sotto in Ascoli Piceno. In 1680 a skirmish between people from Ascoli and Arquata saw the latter pursue their assailants as far as the walls of the town. They took the cross from the church to have a trophy to display as a sign of victory. The people from Ascoli pursued them and caught up with them in an area called “Piè di Sanguinaia” between Favalanciata and Trisungo. During this fight the cross was leant against an oak tree.  At this point the story becomes legend: miraculously the branches of the oak lowered, as if to protect the people of Arquata.  This sign was understood to be a sign of divine will that the cross remained in the mountains and the people of Ascoli abandoned the fight.

3: THE FORTRESS OF ARQUATA DEL TRONTO

The Castle of the Rocca (the Fortress) rises up on a rocky spur situated a little to the north of the town.  The fact that Arquata was historically a “border zone” meant that around the XI-XII century the fortification of the hill was started and so the building of the castle. Later, the Rocca was restored and reinforced by the Church State to hinder the Swath Federico II in his plan to unify Italy. About two centuries later, legend has it that Queen Giovanna d’Angiò of Naples, known as “Joanna the mad”, was locked up in the tower following a conspiracy by her barons.One legend tells that the queen enticed the shepherds to her room at the top of the highest tower with the promise of a night of passion.  Their fate depended on their sexual performances, though: if she was not satisfied with them the queen had the unfortunate lover hanged from the tower.The complexes of buildings that form the Rocca have undergone a series of transformations and an ever-widening variety of uses over the years.  However, it is possible to state that the first structure built on the hill was the keep (or “mastio” )with its hexagonal plan and approximately 12 m. high, situated at the south-east corner. The body wall (part of which still stands) must have been connected to the keep and ran north for about 70 m, closing the only “exposed” side of the hill.  The route that linked the keep to the town was situated – as it is today – on the eastern side of the promontory.  This first defensive structure was built in a position to dominate the entire valley below and to which it presented itself as an emerging element of notable importance.  Between the XIV and the XV century, presumably having had to ensure the increased efficiency of the defensive structure, the north tower was built, on a square plan of 7 x 7 m. and 24 m. high.  The tower, an imposing element of the fortification, joined up to the south with the hexagonal keep by means of a double body wall that delimited a large internal rectangular space measuring 21 x 24 m.  From an examination of the historical documentation and the finds at the site, it can be deduced that within this “square” there must have been several buildings that would have allowed tens of people to live for months inside the Rocca.  An indication of this is provided by the columns of the town Statutes of Norcia dealing with the elections of the castellans of Arquata (1428), where it is said among other things that the two “castellans, with eight partners, had to stay locked within the Rocca from October to March, leaving it only in cases of proven need”.

Throughout the XV century Arquata and its Rocca were the protagonists of furious struggles between the people of Ascoli and the people of Norcia for possession of the town, which in any case remained linked to Norcia until 1554, when the papal appointments of the magistrates and the castellans meant that all local autonomy disappeared.  The last building to be raised in the Rocca was a circular keep with a diameter of 10m., situated in the south-west corner, with a truncated cone base and a triangular buttress.

Today, only some foundation wall of the circular keep remains, brought to light by recent restoration work.  The restoration and valorisation which the Rocca has undergone has now been almost finished. This work was carried out under the supervision of the Department responsible for Environmental and Architectural Property in the Marche. First it improved all the building elements of the castle and its wall before then creating a multi-functional hall within the vast internal courtyard……….

While restoration work was being done, a dig carried out in the courtyard found a heraldic bas-relief dated 1389 and belonging to the noble warrior Sinibaldo Cancellieri di Pistoia, as stated by the commemorative inscription in gothic lettering. The emblems of the third superior band of the shield had been completely chiselled away, a political insult that can be linked to Napoleon’s omnipotence, who, in his delirium, would have destroyed all the towns’ coats of arms in public places, replacing them with French ones and other symbols of the Roman Republic.

The presence of the coat of arms in the Rocca is due to the fact that in those days it was the tradition to embed the coats of arms of the castellans who presided over the fortresses on behalf of the Holy See in the walls of fortresses.

4: MUSEUM OF IMMANENT ART

Arquata del Tronto is not only celebrated for the beautiful historical treasures scattered like precious stones on the green mantle of its territory … In a land where we can admire the past of the “dark centuries” represented in all its splendour by the Rocca and enriched by the Holy Shroud and re-enactments of old battles, we can also immerse ourselves in the world of Modern Art. Diego Pierpaoli founded the artistic movement known as “Immanentismo” (“Immanent Art”) in 1973.  The movement is represented at the highest levels by the “Museo d’Arte Immanente” which collects all the most important works by the same Pierpaoli and other exponents of the style.The museum is in the historic centre of Arquata and going round it we embark on a journey within an Arquata that we did not expect: his works surprise us and carry us around the various rooms that are named after the best-known artists.And who knows, if you come and visit the museum yourself, you might have the good luck to meet Diego Pierpaoli, a master of art and of life….

For further information please visit our site:  www.arteimmanente.com

Photo:

• Photo 1 The Cross of Arquata del Tronto;
• Photos 2 - 3 - 4 The Fortress of Arquata del Tronto

Bibliography:

• "Arquata del Tronto il comune dei due Parchi" di Narciso Galiè e Gabriele Vecchioni Ed. SER
• www.arquatadeltronto.com