Castello Marcantonio In Cepagatti

A monument built on the ruins of a large Roman villa, inhabited until late antiquity, which between the 6th and 7th centuries became a castrum for the Byzantines who had retained control of the nearby port of Aternum (Pescara), a key landing place and intermediate port between the Exarchate capital of Ravenna and Constantinople. They evidently built the first nucleus of the historic Torre Alex (named after Alessandro Valignano, one of the lords of the Valignano di Cepagatti family in the 17th century). The tower was consolidated in the Lombard era as a control point for a strategic road junction at the crossroads of the S.S. Picena Aprutina and the routes leading up to Forca di Penne and the Aquilano area. From the 11th and 12th centuries, it became the seat of the lords of the Norman, Swabian, and Angevin fiefdom of Cepagatti, before passing to the Valignano family in the 15th century and finally to the current owners. The first archaeological investigations by the Superintendency date back to the 1970s, and continued between 1998 and 2011 in Piazza San Rocco, bringing to light important Roman-era artefacts preserved in the City Council Chamber. The restoration of the Castle has returned to the public the so-called "Sala delle Cisterne," a rare and authentic Roman-era cistern measuring 22 meters long and 4 meters wide, as well as the 340-square-meter "Sala del Grano," located on the top floor of the monument, with a panoramic view of the Pescara Valley. The restoration of the Marcantonio Castle, begun in 2008, represents a "place in history," and the over 2,000 square meters spread over four levels offer the possibility of hosting particularly evocative events. Unfortunately, it is now in decline due to problems with the owners and is closed. What a shame... It is closed and abandoned. We hope the municipality of Cepagatti buys it back.