Castignano – The abode of the Templars

The Story

Five minutes from Dimora Fontemaggio is Castignano. It is a tradition that the name “Castignano” derives from the wonderful chestnut groves that surrounded it, and this hypothesis is believed to be the most reliable, given that the chestnut tree towered in the town’s main square, figures in the civic coat of arms and still stands imposingly in the garden of the municipal headquarters on Via Margherita. Instead, some want this name to derive from the chastity of the customs of the early inhabitants, while others claim that the name comes from the Roman Consul Castinus (424 B.C.), founder of the country.

The town of Castignano, around the year 1000, was of considerable size, but because of both its sloping location between the Tesino River and the Chifente and Acquachiara streams and the geological structure of the land, consisting of layers of clay and sandstone, half of the town sank.
Thus was created the high cliff to the south, fortified with the imposing wall with thirteen arches that today is one of the main features of the panorama. More devastation has since befallen the village over time, by landslides and earthquakes (in 1335, 1574 and 1717) and, more recently, by the earthquakes of 1913 and October 3, 1943.
In the 11th century Castignano became part of the garrison of the Farfensi and later came under the authority of the Bishop of Ascoli. A domination, that of Ascoli, never accepted by the Castignanesi who waged hard struggles and popular uprisings to regain their autonomy, allying with Fermo, another rival of Ascoli. Between 1369 and 1380 Castignano also suffered the brief but harsh tyranny of Boffo da Massa. Around 1400, it came under the jurisdiction of the Roman Court, and just a century later, in 1493, it returned under the rule of Ascoli at the hands of Pope Alexander VI, who sold the municipality’s territory for 3,000 scudi.
In 1530, on the orders of Pope Clement VII, the fortress of Castiglioni, erected by the people of Ascoli to control Castignano, was destroyed. The struggles ended in 1535 when Michele Recchi, sent to Perugia to plead the Castignanesi’s cause to Pope Paul III, was killed right in front of the Palazzo dei Priori, the papal residence, by Astolfo Guiderocchi from Ascoli, who had been sent to support Ascoli’s jurisdictional supremacy rights on the other side.
Following this misdeed, the Pope, in 1538 permanently restored independence to the Castignanesi and in 1585 Sixtus V made Castignano a free capital city also from the temporal power of the Bishop of Ascoli, placing it under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Montalto Marche, while the hamlet of Ripaberarda and the Castiglioni district remained under the Diocese of Ascoli.
The Castignanesi obtained several privileges from the Pope during that period, and in 1590 they compiled the statute. Under Napoleon, Castignano became part of the Kingdom of Italy in the canton of Montalto, but in 1815 it was again incorporated into the Apostolic Delegation of Ascoli. In 1860 the Castignanesi voted compactly in favor of the Kingdom of Italy and were the first to raise the national banner.

Testifying to an ancient past is the “Stele of Castignano, “ found in Castignano territory, with a Picene inscription dated 6th century B.C. It is one of the most valuable pieces in the Archaeological Museum of Ascoli Piceno, where it is kept. the stele is a sandstone boulder in the shape of a roughly pyramidal truncated, four-sided, four-sided cippus, a little more than a meter high with a bustrophedic inscription (reads alternately right to left, left to right) and represents the first and oldest Italic alphabet inscription (example of the most comprehensive South-Picene writing). Of the various interpretations, the translation most shared by experts is the following: “This defense raised the Appaeans to their hands, if anyone dares to profane this place of the father and mother commits sacrilege.”

Places of special interest in Castignano:

To understand how much the town of Castignano was a cultural and political center of considerable importance in the past, one need only look around from the magnificent St. Peter’s Square to verify its strategic position straddling the areas dominated by the emperor and those that fell under the papal aegis. From here there is also a view of one of the most distinctive and striking landscape features of the area: the badlands. An erosive phenomenon resulting from the particular structure of the soil and the action of water and sun.

Walking through the streets of the ancient medieval village that has remained almost intact, one has the opportunity to enjoy enchanting views. On the top of the hill is the church of St. Peter and Paul which houses the magnificent fresco ” the Last Judgment” dating from the 1400s, the “Reliquary” fine work of late Gothic goldsmithing that holds a fragment of the Holy Cross donated by Pope Nicholas IV, and one of the Sistine Museums of the Picenum. Inside the attached crypt probably dating from the Farfa period, there are traces of frescoes attributed to Vincenzo Pagani and Vittore Crivelli.

Lower down, however, is the church of Saint Mary’s, dating back to the 12th century, tangible evidence of the passage and permanence of the Knights Templar in the territory of Castignano, both because of its architectural structure in all similarity to that of the Hospitalium erected by the Order of the Temple, both because of the presence of the “Tau” on the entrance portal, both because of recent findings in the vicinity of the same of burials typical of such Knights. This connection is responsible for the nearly 30-year tradition of re-enacting the Middle Ages and in it, the life of the Templars, which every second half of August allows thousands of visitors to take a dip into the past by participating in Templaria Festival. This is one of the most important historical events nationwide that offers the opportunity to observe faithful reconstructions of life at the time, taste delicious dishes reworked on ancient recipes and enjoy the presence of nearly 150 artists including jesters, acrobats, jugglers, fire-breathers, dancers and actors, both national and international, who perform simultaneously in every corner, street and square making the atmosphere an enchanted dream.

Three museums can also be visited within the village: one of the Sistine Museums of the Picenum, the Museum Pole of Sacred Art and Icons which houses a Library of about 6,000 ancient volumes and a valuable collection of 80 Byzantine icons, and the Exhibition of Folk Arts and Traditions which collects a vast number of ancient working tools, in many cases related to activities carried out in the area since ancient times, such as silkworm breeding and green anise cultivation, and many curious objects related to folk tradition.

A stop in the small town makes it possible to sample many of the most delicious traditional Piceno dishes and sip some of the most welcome wines on the national scene.

Main events in Castignano:

Templaria Festival
(second half of August) – medieval historical re-enactment dedicated to the life and works of the Knights Templar in which it is possible to experience “medieval nights” in a village completely restored to ancient memories, taste delicious dishes and attend numerous performances all strictly related to the history of the Middle Ages.

The
Historical Carnival
(Thursday through Tuesday Carnival) – punctuated with tradition-related and themed events and marked by the historic parade of the “Moccoli,” colorful lamp-posts that wind their way in a bright, evocative and festive procession to sanction the end of Carnival and bring back memories of ancient Christian and pagan traditions.A recurring event in Italy, famous throughout Europe that of Rome (described by Goethe and Andersen among others), then lost now everywhere since the Unification of Italy, except in Castignano, which maintains the custom.