The Angevin village of Cittaducale

What it is and where it is

We arrive shortly after dawn. The air is still cool, and as we make our way from the war memorial toward the center of town, we are greeted by a ray of sunlight passing through Porta Napoli and illuminating the eastern flank of the Angoina Tower. This is just one of many monuments founded in the late medieval period by the House of Anjou, right here in Cittaducale, nestled on the Cerreto di Piano hill along the Via Salaria, about 10 kilometers from Rieti.

Why it's special

The small town in the Apennines of Rieti is a condensation of architectural wonders all, or almost all, built under the noble court of the Anjou and still retains, still, an elliptical plan, with two streets perpendicular to each other and whose meeting point corresponds to the present Piazza del Popolo. Here, in the heart of the Angevin village, a concentrate of art history explodes with vigorous beauty, sometimes entirely reconstructed so that we could still admire its grandeur today.