San Pio delle Camere Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

San Pio delle Camere Castle stands on Monte Gentile, in the province of L'Aquila, and overlooks the village. The oldest mentions date from 1173, when it was a fief of the barons of Poppleto, today Coppito; it later passed to the Caracciolo. A castle-enclosure, it served as a refuge for the local population and livestock in times of danger, and nothing suggests it was ever a permanent residence. Built in two phases, first the keep and then the curtain wall, it has a tower known as a 'spur' tower, whose plan combines a square and an equilateral triangle, and a triangular enclosure flanked by smaller intermediate towers along the wall walk. The walls were probably raised in the 14th century. Its present state results from the attack carried out in 1424 by the condottiere Braccio da Montone during the War of L'Aquila.