Civitella Alfedena is an enchanting medieval village surrounded by lush and predominant nature in the heart of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park.
The village has about 300 souls and lies at the foot of Mount Sterpi d'Alto (1,966 metres) in the middle of the Monti Marsicani mountain range and above Lake Barrea.
This area of the Alto Sangro, the main river, has an ancient heritage and has been inhabited since the Upper Palaeolithic, as archaeological findings in the Achille Graziani cave attest.
"Although I am a small town, I have an illustrious past. Aufidena was a dear mother to me. I once shone while it flourished. Now I am left with a glorious name'.
This is the text of an unusual inscription that has been lost, while many other finds discovered in the area confirm the antiquity and dignity of the small village of Civitella Alfedena, so much so that many historians consider it the oldest of the towns reflected in Lake Barrea.
Inhabited by ancient 'Osca' or Samnite-speaking communities that created the specific traits of the local culture and were unified by the imprint of Rome after the Samnite Wars.
One of the most fascinating and mysterious hypotheses of its origins is that it was born on the ruins of Fresilia, an ancient city conquered by Rome in 450 BC by the consul Valerius Maximus, of which only the main sanctuary remained.
During the empire of Augustus, Civitella was reorganised according to the regional division that included it in the fourth region (Samnium or Sabina).
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Civitellesi were forced to take refuge in the "Rocca de Entramonte", a small fortress erected in 1060 in Camosciara by the Benedictines of the Cenobio di Sant'Angelo in Barreggio, because of the barbarian and Saracen raids.
The Rocca was the territory of the County of Valva, which later became the County of Sangro.
In 1400, due to disputes between its feudal lords Antonio and Simone Di Sangro and the Cantelmo Di Popoli counts, the fortress became depopulated, until, around 1450-80, during the subsequent wars and devastation, Rocca Intramonti was definitively abandoned. Its ancient mill, however, remained active until the early 1900s and the village did not remain deserted.
The present name appears for the first time as "Civitellam" only in 1272 and seems to attest, together with the ovoid map of the oldest settlement, to an ancient function as a fortified centre.
The village maintained its almost round shape for a long time, intersecting with several sloping streets, and in 1742 it was given the name "Civitella vicino Alfedena" (Civitella near Alfedena), while in 1774-77 a crown with the inscription "Civitella d'Alfedena" was added to the rampant animal depicted in the oval seal.
Civitella was part of the Bourbon Kingdom until the Unification of Italy in 1870, after which it began to depopulate and many of its citizens went to various parts of America. A second wave of emigrants took place after the Second World War when it
was crossed by the German defensive line called Gustav Line.
Today it is one of the most attractive centres in the park and includes two nature reserves and a museum dedicated to the wolf.
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