Castel di Tora

a Nativity Scene Floating on the Water

The Name

Until 1864 Castel di Tora was called Castel Vecchio (Castrum Vetus), and its inhabitants are still called “Castelvecchiesi”.

The new name takes from the ancient and famous (but of uncertain location) Sabine city of Thora, later a Roman pagus (village).

History

• 1035: documents from the Abbey of Farfa mention for the first time “Castrum Vetus de Ophiano,” established during the period of fortifications around the year 1000 AD. Following a period under the Abbey of Farfa, which had received it as a gift from Lombard lords, Castelvecchio, along with Castrum Antoni (today Antuni) and Collepiccolo, came under the seigniory of the Brancaleoni and then of the Mareri, from whom it was confiscated in 1241 and returned in 1250 by Frederick II.

• 1440: the fief of Castelvecchio, annexed to the Papal States, passes into the hands of the Orsini, then to the Estouteville from 1558 to 1570, and then back to the Orsini until 1634, when it falls to the Borghese, with whom it remains until Napoleon’s abolition of the feudal system. Antuni, on the other hand, belongs to various families, including the Drago princes in 1800. In 1944 it is bombed by the Americans, and in 1950 the townspeople abandon it. The Drago palace, with its frescoed halls, stone stairways and 365 windows, falls into ruin.

• 1870: after the Unification of Italy, Castel di Tora (the new name of Castelvecchio since 1864) is added to the Province of Perugia, i.e. in the Region of Umbria. It goes to the Region of Lazio in 1920 as part of the Province of Rome, and then to the newly created Province of Rieti in 1927.

• 1935-38: the construction of the dam and artificial lake of Turano, which floods the most fertile lands in the valley, results in a massive emigration of the population, which falls from 1000 then to 300 today. The local economy also changes from being based on agriculture and sheep-farming to that of commerce and tourism.

Some of the Most Beautiful Scenery in Lazio, Scented with Broom and Thyme

Castel di Tora stretches along the shore of the artificial lake of Turano, surrounded by a crown of thick woods. Rising above is Mt. Navegna (1506 m), from the peak of which on clear days the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome can be seen with the naked eye.

In the village, the buildings made from exposed local stone with a wooden roof structure covered with clay tiles are typical of rural architecture in the Middle Ages.

The fortress, built at the edge of a sheer cliff, has a polygonal tower from the 11th century, while the towers on Via Turano and Via Cenci (the latter incorporated in a house) are from a later period (15th cent.), and are part of the remains of the old city walls.

The Palazzo del Drago and the entire village of Antuni – on the small peninsula projecting into the lake and connected by an isthmus – date from the 15th and 16th centuries. Here also on a cliff overhanging the lake is the hermitage of San Salvatore.

Returning to the “mainland,” worthy of a visit are the Baroque church of San Giovanni Evangelista (with frescoes from the 1500s and a bell tower with gillyflowers and pennyroyal growing on its), and the 18th century building next to the polygonal tower. The fountain of Triton in the main square is from 1898. The urban structure of the historic center remained virtually unchanged until the mid 1900s.

Still visible on Via Umberto I are parts of Roman columns and friezes and Latin inscriptions on the outer walls of the church. But now it is necessary to take measures – as the local government is doing – to protect the old portals, the characteristic tiny streets with arches, stairs and passages, the grottoes and cellars dug into the rock. Ovens and terraces, clothes hanging, old women dressed in black, a small square with a marvelous scenic view, the shimmering water of the lake rippling in the breeze: this is the storybook landscape handed down to us by the ancient shepherds of Thora.

And for those who wish to conclude their visit with a “mystic immersion” (for a worldly immersion, there is the lake), enriched further by the iconostasis, there is the Convent of Santa Anatolia, once the summer residence of the Greek Orthodox Papal College, with a beautiful church mentioned in a papal bull dating from 1153.

Local Products

Grown here only at agritourism farms are “pea beans,” which have a particular flavor and texture.

This is also a land of great cheeses (from sheep’s and cow’s milk, and a sheep’s milk ricotta excellent for ravioli) and also of grains (maize, spelt, barley), truffles, porcini mushrooms and fish from the lake.

Local dishes

Two dishes are king at local festivals: polentone (first Sunday of lent), a corn meal mush cooked in a cauldron over a fire and served with a sauce made with stockfish, herring, tuna and anchovies; and strigliozzi (first Sunday of October), a type of handmade macaroni.