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CASTEL SAN PIETRO

 

On the highest summit of its territory the “Belvedere” rose up: today, Castel san Pietro is an ancient castle perched on solid rocky bases and enclosed by strong walls.

In the last century the castle wall and the ancient stronghold entrance still stood, even if worn away and crumbled by time; few remains, if the truth be told, but clear enough to remind its citizens of the by now jaded memory of an old, strong town.

The cadastre of 1381 provides many details on the castle called Castrum Sancti Petri. It belonged to the Saladini family dynasty and in 1301 it was acquired from the city of Ascoli.₍₁₎

The land that the count governed included the following hamlets, over which it had jurisdiction: Tavernelle, Appoiano, San Silvestro, Poggio, Caprignano and Palmiano, which today is, as a point of fact, the administrative centre of the borough.

Castel San Pietro was therefore a castle of much importance and was governed by a mayor appointed by the Borough of Ascoli, who was invested with very specific powers and responsibility. His fixed residence was the building purposely built for the exercise of administrative activity.

In 1351 Galeotto Malatesta of Ascoli laid siege to the town, which surrendered after five days.  In 1543 Paolo III decided to remove jurisdiction of Castel San Pietro from Ascoli in order to punish the ambush that the mountain rebels had carried out on his commissioner, Niccolò Ardighelli.  However, the castle soon returned under the command of Ascoli, just after a few months. 

In the last decade of the XVI century, Marco Sciarra’s bandits started to venture into Ascoli territory with the intent of instigating terror through looting.

In 1612, when the phenomenon of banditry had been repressed, Castel San Pietro had its new statute.  In the title page of the statute, within a border decorated with vegetable symbols, the view of the castle, the coat of arms of Ascoli, the tripthong of St. Bernardino of Siena and the curled shield of Castel S. Pietro containing on a white background a castle crowned by the prince of the apostles. 

The castle is depicted with a church (S. Pietro) and two towers extra moenia too.

In the second half of the XVIII century landslips made the ancient roman church of S. Pietro move in the direction of the valley, determining its disappearance.  Then it was the turn of the walled structure that was exploited as a stone quarry.

In 1798, the sixth year of the republican age, Castel San Pietro was part of the Dipartimento del Tronto (Department of the Tronto), a proper division of the land imposed and decreed by the French, which answered to the Cantone (district) of Amandola.

In 1808, with the admittance of Marche to the Kingdom of Italy, Castel San Pietro would inevitably reach the end of its role as a Borough in favour of Venarotta.  In 1815 it would become a hamlet of Comunanza and from 1818 of Palmiano.

 

Photos:

  • Photo 1 The Chapel;
  • Photo 2 Fresco in the Chapel.

Bibliography:

  • From “Flash il Mensile di vita Picena” n. 118 del GENNAIO 1988 di Luigi Girolami
  • From Castelli, Rocche Torri cinte fortificate delle Marche “I Castelli dello Stato di Ascoli” Volume IV Tomo Primo di Maurizio Mauro
  • (1) Ascoli Piceno Government Archives historical Archive Civic Register “Quinternon” Sheet 62RV
 
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