Montalto di Castro

Imposing

Nice little village.

I have been coming to Montalto Marina for years and a scandalous thing like today never happened: mass umbrellas taken away by the coast guard from the public beach !!!! While obviating the reasonableness of the gesture that I can also understand, I don't like the fact that there was no notice posted on the spot which communicated that the umbrellas had to be removed every evening when for years there has been the practice of leaving them closed there on the spot! !!! To our requests for restitution, since it is an asset, we were told that we would have to pay a € 200 fine !!! Congratulations on the information you give to the citizen, I put myself in the shoes of elderly people who don't know how to use the internet or who don't have it at all !!! For a tourist place like Montalto it seems to me the least to inform the tourist as much as possible instead of mistreating and "screwing" him !!! Certainly next year will not see my presence nor that of many others !!! Shame, shame, shame !!!!

The municipality does not answer the phone

Ugly experience common dirty just take the cycle path of via della Macchia to realize that it is never as clean as the free beach that reaches Marina from the Murelle

There are various reasons to stay in Montalto di Castro: The sea with equipped beaches, but also kilometers of free and unspoiled beaches such as the one called the Murelle; the Etruscan and Naturalistic Archaeological Park of Vulci with the Pellicone lake and the Abbadia castle with the Devil's bridge; The thermal baths of Vulci; It is also possible to spend pleasant evenings at the Padovani Theater. Montalto has a strategic position to reach other interesting tourist destinations within a few kilometers: for example, I would recommend the incredible Tarot Garden to visit absolutely which is located about 15 km away. Recommended hotels and Bed and Breakfasts are the La Pecora Ladra hotel, the Margherita hotel and the Locanda degli Etruschi B&B.

Very beautiful and suggestive ancient village. For some scholars, the Montis Alti castrum was founded in the 5th-6th century AD. by refugees from the coastal town Gravisca, destroyed by pirates. Others say that the castle was founded in the 8th century by Desiderio, King of the Lombards. Both hypotheses are not supported by documents. Montalto leaves the legend and enters history only in 852 AD: in a bull of Pope Leo IV addressed to the bishop of Tuscania, the name Montis Alti appears for the first time. Between the 11th and 12th centuries Montalto suffered serious destruction. The best known is that of 1109 when Pope Pasquale II, to defeat Stefano dei Corsi, had Castrum Montis Alti destroyed by the Norman militias in which he had perched. During the Medieval Age a port was born and developed: located in the mouth of the Fiora river, it constituted a very important landing place for the Tyrrhenian routes, especially for the ship of grains. The historic center reaches its maximum urban expansion: in the fourteenth century, in fact, it houses more than a thousand men. For these reasons it becomes a coveted territory: in addition to the Pope, the Municipality of Rome, the Orsini and the Prefects of Vico contend for it. The constant battles of this era, the Avignonese Captivity and the difficult economic situation put the country in a serious crisis which drops from one thousand to 250 men. The difficult condition will improve, in part, in 1421 when Pope Martino V, interested in maintaining a residential area in the area to supervise the Dogana dei Pascoli, wrote a bull to encourage repopulation in the area. From this moment the territory of Montalto is inextricably linked to the agro-pastoral system, transhumance and seasonal work. Malaria and the harsh living conditions of the inhabitants will make the danger of depopulation constant. It will be the continuous migrations from the Apennines and Corsica to ward off this possibility. By the will of Pope Paul III, on 22 December 1535 the town of Montalto and its territory was granted as a fief to Pier Luigi Farnese, his son. After a few years the Duchy of Castro was established. Montalto experiences a short flourishing phase. In the seventeenth century, however, there is a rapid decline. The final blow is given by the terrible wars against Castro: in 1649, the city was razed to the ground and its territory became part of the Papal States. The socio-economic conditions of Montalto, however, do not benefit, indeed, on the whole territory, leased to a general contractor, dominates sheep farming and extensive wheat cultivation. The early eighteenth century are remembered as the terrible years of Montalto. In 1709 the population reached its historical low: one hundred eighty-two inhabitants. The Papal Government is aware of the miserable condition of this population and is preparing for a series of important investments: the bridge over the Fiora river, under which also passes the aqueduct for the Fontana del Mascherone and the construction of a new hospital in the monastery of San Sisto. The municipality of Montalto di Castro began, in the mid-eighteenth century, the fight against contractors in defense of civic uses. The legal disputes filed in recent years are numerous and lead the Municipality to chronic debt. Again a pope will try to revive the population of Montalto: Pius VI. In 1778, with a Motu Proprio, he canceled the debts, abolished duties and gabelles, placed the proceeds of the Municipality under the Administration of the Apostolic Chamber, increased the rights of civic use, stimulating the cultivation of lands and repopulation. This series of reforms generated positive results, while not modifying the basic structures and endemic problems of that society: malaria, poverty, epidemics. The population in 1783 reached the threshold of the six hundred units, an agricultural bourgeoisie was born, a vast construction work was started: construction of the church of S. Maria Assunta and the new Tre Cannelle fountain, raising of a floor of the Orsini Castle and the construction of new.

The village still shows traces of its medieval past in the oval-shaped structure, in the architectural and planimetric development of the alleys and arches. The central nucleus is occupied by the Cathedral. The side closest to the current Corso is occupied by the Orsini Castle which retains its late medieval bulk