Fotos

Casteldilago - Arrone (TR)

Casteldilago is a small village 10.5 km from Terni and located on a hill 326 meters above sea level.
The village was a strategic fortification for the safety of the Valnerina, since, built on a rocky plateau that overlooks the valley where the Nera river flows by more than one hundred meters, it controlled a road junction transversal to the two great consular arteries: the via Flaminia and the via Salaria, the Via Curia (or Roman Road), which connected Rieti and Terni with Spoleto.
The town rose around the place chosen in 514 as a hermitage by San Lorenzo illuminatore, a Syrian monk.
The first written news of the castle dates back to 1033, we read in the register of the Abbey of Farfa that a certain Berardo called Moco donated some goods to the monastery including Casteldilago, which between 760 and 1291 was part of the diocese of Narni, only to be transferred to that of Spoleto. It was a Lombard curtis and, in 1198, Spoleto, in its expansionist aim towards the Valnerina, occupied it together with the neighboring villages.
In fact, already at the end of the twelfth century Spoleto boasted rights over the castle and Gentile da Chiavano renewed its submission to the city in 1212.
However, in 1241 it was still the imperial possession of Frederick II. Cardinal Rainiero Capocci, rector of the Duchy, confirmed, in 1245, its submission to Spoleto, renewed in 1266, after the rebellion of Casteldilago during the war for the Terre Arnolfe.
Also in 1302 there is a further submission to Spoleto.
In 1499 it rebelled and passed under the dominion of Terni.
Pope Alexander VI intervened to re-establish the ancient Spoleto domination: peace was signed in the Rocca di Spoleto in the presence of Lucrezia Borgia, governor of the Duchy. Between 1534 and 1549, during the pontificate of Paul III Farnese, it endowed itself with its own statute,
The community was administered by a vicar and three massari who, starting from 1743, were called priori. They were elected by the general council, made up of the heads of families, by drawing the bussolo.
As in the other neighboring communities, among the officers there were also the mayor, the chamberlain, the chancellor, the bailiff, the procurator in Spoleto, the moderator of the clock, the organist and the school teacher.
The Community's revenues consisted of property rights and rents; the greatest gain came from renting the pasture of goats and sheep.
In the Napoleonic period Casteldilago followed the events of nearby Arrone, which was united with the Canton of Terni and was administered by a maire and nine councilors.
With the Restoration of the papal government, the administration was again entrusted to a prior and two deputies.
Between 1819 and 1827 he became appodiato di Arrone.
With the unification of Italy it was elevated to a municipality, only to be suppressed with a royal decree of 7 March 1875. Since then it has been part of the municipality of Arrone, whose history follows.