VICALVI

The small town of Vicalvi – from the Latin Vicus Albus meaning “mountain hamlet” - has hidden its main feature in its name: it in fact lies on a hill overlooked by Monte Morrone, in the past known as Monte Albeto, on which is clearly visible the karst basin of Fossa Licia, one of the most beautiful ones in the Italian central Apennines, kept almost intact and surrounded by its original environmental setting thanks to its remote position.

However, Vicalvi is also a town rich in history, so that the path that leads to the top of the hill turns into a real walk back in time. Leaving from Delicata, the modern town centre where its main activities are located, you can climb the road that winds along the sides of the hill between two rows of houses, leading to the old town centre, well preserved despite depopulation. There the old town hall stands, among fascinating views, now home to the local public library, together with the parish church dedicated to the Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, with Baroque-styled interiors, frescoes on the vault and also a Baroque-styled wooden pulpit, while on a modern altar there is a 20th-century tile depicting the Last Supper.

Through the upper gate of the walls, you can reach the majestic Castle, dominating the town from the top of the hill: its appearance tells you the events it witnessed over the centuries. The castle was founded in the early Middle Ages on an ancient Volscian settlement to defend the town and the Comino Valley, together with the nearby castles of Alvito and Picinisco, and was first a Lombard possession at the time of the princes of Capua to later become, in 1017, part of the properties of Abbey of Montecassino; in the 13th century, the building was passed onto the Counts of Aquinas, who further fortified it with a double line of walls still visible today. Suddenly abandoned and slowly going to rack and ruin, during the Second World War it was turned into a field hospital by the German troops, as evidenced by the huge red cross still visible on its outer walls.

The perfect way to end your visit is walking through the narrow streets of the abandoned medieval town, where echoes of mysterious legends resound, such as the one about the ghost of the "Lady in Chains", also known as "The Lady of the castle", who is said to have been walled up in one of the towers by her husband, who had discovered the murders of the young men she had previously seduced; or walking along the upper ramparts of the walls, from which you can enjoy the charming view on the Comino Valley when turning east. When going back to the modern town centre, instead, you can reach the hamlet of San Francesco where there is the homonymous convent founded by the saint of Assisi in 1222 in the place where it is said he made water gush out of the rock, originating a spring.