Town Acquasanta Terme History Unions |
THE UNIONS After the fall of Charlemagne’s Empire and the barbarian invasions, the monks of Farfa arrived in Acquasanta territory around the year one thousand. Their arrival followed the destruction of their monastery at the hands of the Saracens and they expanded their presence to almost all the territory of Marche.The Farfa monks dominated the territory for about 150 years, but then their economic and political power passed and was centralised in the Bishop – Count. The "Magnificent city of Ascoli" rebelled against the authoritarianism of the Bishop - Count and gradually acquired and organized all its territory in a sectional way.All the Castles of the Mountain were removed from the power of Ascoli, which divided them into: Unions, Lands and Villas. Around 1500 the territory of Acquasanta was divided into four Unions, each with its own legal and jurisdictional autonomy. They were part of the Church State and were:
Each Union had its own "Palatium": the consular room where they discussed the problems inherent to the territory and its respective rules. Those responsible were the Massari of Regimine, called Priori (consuls), and the Massari, public officials who administered the property and possessions of the individual villas, two people being elected for each Villa every two months by drawing lots from an urn called the "Bussolo." Each location of each Union was called "Castle" and "Villa" it was the name of all the towns that made up each Union. The small council formed by the Podestà and by the Massari de Regimine elected the general Parliament. All rules governing the administrative activity of each Union were set out in the Statutes approved by the Council of the Elders of Ascoli (1377). The administrative activity of the Union was flanked by the Pievania, also known as the Mother Church, which extended its jurisdiction over all the "plebs" (population). Today they are called Pievi or Pievanie, because in the early centuries of the Church it was usual to call by that name the union of the faithful under the assistance and care of a priest, who administered baptism and the other sacraments to the population assigned to him. The churches that had a priest with such prerogatives were called Major and the others were known as Minor. One of the peculiar characteristics of the Pieve was that it had a font, unlike other rural churches like the Church of Maddalena d’Acquasanta, the Church of S. Lorenzo in Paggese, the parish church of Valledacqua and the Church of Santa Maria in Santa Maria, which were of less importance. Each Union had its Pievania:
The pievanie were regulated by internal rules domestic laws providing for, among, other things, the administration of property, of bequests and of the various votive chapels built inside the churches and supervised the collection and distribution of the "decime" (tenths), a mandatory tribute, in kind or in money that was levied by the papal collectors. So, every Union had its own Parliament made up of the Massari de Redimine (Consuls), aided by local administrators in the operation of the various activities inherent to the allocation of pastures, timber production, wool and dairy products; for the collection of taxes due on lands leased to quell arguments arising between the different Villas of the Union and with the Villas of neighbouring Unions, the construction of churches and other infrastructures, donations and offerings. THE QUINTODECIMO UNION A Castle of the 3rd level of the State of Ascoli. It included the following Villas: S. Vito, Noele, Matera, Favalanciata, Peracchia and Capodirigo. The town takes its name from the distance between itself and the city of Ascoli Piceno which was 15 Roman miles (1 mile = 1478 meters). Its "Palatium" was next to the church of SS. Crocifisso: this was the place in which all the Villas of the Union met for legal work and where the general Parliament was as well as the residence of the Podestà. Justice was administered here and it was also a meeting point for notaries and their clients. The castle, over the years, became notorious for being the seat of numerous notaries, one of which was the famous "Nino of Quintodecimo" (1415). Quintodecimo with the Villas annexed to its Union, was a rich and well organized Castle. It was far from the raids carried out by brigands, except during the black period of banditry in Acquasanta. The Castle preserved and strengthened its economy more and more through the agricultural activity of sheep farming and wool, timber and grain production. It welcomed the Lombard master craftsmen who built and restructured houses and churches and restructured almost everywhere. Over the years Quintodecimo kept its importance, from the strategic point of view, because of the Via Salaria. THE MONTECALVO UNION Montecalvo has very remote historical origins and encompasses a vast territory of the Abruzzo and March mountains which slope down towards the River Castellano. It included the villages of: Pietralta, Morrice, Capoditigna, Vallecchia, Ferroni, S. Giovanni, Collefrattale, Casaduna, S. Gregory, Flen, S. Paolo, Farno, Colle, Roccamontecalvo, Vosci, Forcella and S. Martino, the seat of the Union. A Castle registered at the second level of the State of Ascoli, Montecalvo had its administrative centre in San Martino and remained under the leadership of Bishop - Count until 1242, when Federico II took Ascoli away from the Pope and favoured the rise of the Guiderocchi family. In 1266 Montecalvo and Luco become part of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily and remained so for several decades: Montecalvo until 1288 and Luco for a time that has not been defined exactly. Located on the border with the Kingdom of Napoli, it was the scene of many encounters between the Malatesta and Guiderocchi families in which possession or control of its vast territory and the Fortress was contested. In 1301 much of the Montecalvo land was sold to the Guiderocchi by Ascoli and gradually this territory became the haunt of dishonest people. During the Napoleonic and Renaissance periods, Montecalvo had its political - strategic importance due to the presence there of some outstanding personalities, who brought prestige to the town and for the events of a political nature that took place there. In 1808, with the advent of the Kingdom of Italy, Montecalvo lost its municipal prerogatives to the benefit of the smaller Comune di Montacuto, but with the compartmentalisation reform of 1814 both came under the administration of Acquasanta, from which they were later to split in 1818, once more taking control of their autonomy. In 1852, Montecalvo was forced to cede Pietralta, Morrice and Casenuove to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in exchange for Volsci and Forcella. In 1862 during the Reign of Italy, the municipality took on the new name of Montecalvo del Castellano to differentiate itself from other places with the same name in the peninsula and in 1865 it was permanently integrated with Acquasanta. THE MONTEACUTO UNION On the southwest side of the mountain of Acquasanta is the Montacuto area, which in the past was a vast wild territory that sloped down to the Garrafo stream. Initially, it was neither Castello nor Villa. Then it became a Union because of its many villages under the direction of a judicial Podestà once Ascoli had organized its Feud. It consisted of the following Villas: Pito, Pozza, Umito, Pomaro Gaglierto, Vallecchia, Castiglioni, Refaduni, Pietra Rotonda and Restefano. The first Villas of Montacuto were Pomaro and Pito, which were ceded to the Abbey of Farfa in 1039 by the spouses Hilperino and Ladi, who were of Germanic origin. After that date it can be assumed that the two Villas would have passed to the Bishop - Count of Ascoli and following that to the Dominion of the Guiderocchi, who sold it in 1289 to Ascoli for 6000 Ravenna pounds. Around 1500, the church of S. Lazarus was built at the entrance to the Villa of Pito. Here the Parliament was housed and justice would be administered for more than 80 years. Above all it was used for the payment of taxes, for the settlement of disputes and quarrels among the various Villas of the Union, for the rent of the mountains and of the mill at Gaglierto. Next to the church a hospital would be built during the plague. One of the most important Villas of the Union of Montacuto was Pomaro because of its fertile lands and the fact that it was the residence of the Guiderocchi (1289). It later became the seat of the Union of Montacuto and the residence of the Podestà. At the beginning of 1600 it had its "palatium" and became the administrative centre of the Union until 1866 when Monteacuto ceased to be an autonomous municipality. The local church of S. Mary became a Pievania (or mother church), the religious centre of all the Union. THE ACQUASANTA UNION The union of Acquasanta included the Villas of Paggese and Luco, Valledacqua, Piedicava, Arola, S. Mary, Torre, Gottare, Forcella, Colle Menarello, Falciano, Vena a Martello, Vallesalce, Tallacano, Rocchetta, Falciano, Val fusella, Santo Pietro in Gottare, Cagnano and Arli. Acquasanta Pallatium did not have its own “palatium” for the Massari and public administrators to meet. Instead meetings were held in rented private homes, while important meetings concerning the six-monthly nominations for the position of Podestà were usually held in Paggese, where the Parliament was held in the in the loggia of the Church of S. Lorenzo. Acquasanta only built its town hall in 1867. Here the great civic clock tower would rise up in 1873, which unfortunately no longer exists. Having become the seat of the municipality in the fourteenth century it found it had to suffer criminal acts at the hands of two well-known bandits from Ascoli: Astolfo Guiderocchi and Mariano Parisani. The unions della Montagna were fined 4000 scudos for having given hospitality to the two men. After the wave of banditry caused by Parisani, the Unions della Montagna had to face the difficult period of reorganising the territory, punishing the wrongdoers and making sure that the numerous ex-bandits would not act, inflicting exemplary punishments on those who had stained themselves committing serious crimes in order to avoid a dangerous reorganization of bandits. When Sisto V was named Pope, he issued tough laws to prevent banditry throughout the Papal State and thousands of bandits were hanged. However, the famous bandit Marco Sciarra reappeared on the mountains of Acquasanta and tried to organize a group of followers in the mountain areas, but, hunted down by the papal troops, he abandoned the March and the Kingdom of Naples to take refuge in Venice. The Union of Acquasanta continued to be administered by the Massari or Consuls until its transformation into the seat of the municipality with the Royal Decree of December 10th, 1865. Bibliography:
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