Top 11 Castles around Parco regionale Monti Picentini

Whore’s stone

The defensive building is set between two natural rock towers in a locality in the hamlet of Felitto, in an inaccessible place that dominates the entire valley below. The fortress was surrounded by a triple wall, the first of which can still be identified by some fragments incorporated in the current urbanization; the second, halfway up the slope, still has the watchtowers and the entrance to the Castrum intact; the third with two quadrangular towers was placed to guard the central nucleus built at maximum height. In the factories, the re-use of clay fragments and previous constructions is visible. The various rooms in which the inhabitants' daily activities took place are still clearly evident: three cisterns for collecting rainwater, halls, service area, halls, suspended arches and more. Between the second and third walls, the vast residential settlement can still be identified, positioned on a vast, mainly flat surface. In this area the ruins of a Christian church outline the small nave and the apse.

This castle was built by the Lombards and the Normans between the eighth and ninth centuries, although the first written texts attesting to its existence date back to the thirteenth century. Located on top of Monte Croce, it dominates the whole valley.

The Ruins of the Castle of Senerchia are located on the street of the same name, near the Borgo Antico. The first documents attesting the history of the Senerchie fortress date back to 1230, when the owner of the stronghold was a certain Giovanna. It is very probable that the already pre-existing fortress was built and enlarged between the 8th and 9th century AD by the Lombards and the Normans, who succeeded one another in dominating the feud. Built on the highest part of the town, overlooking Monte Croce over the surrounding Sele Valley, the Castle was typically medieval and therefore equipped with external walls, a keep and a residential building. info: https://sistemairpinia.provincia.avellino.it/it/luoghi/ruderi-del-castello-di-senerchia The last stretch, even if very short, is demanding, sturdy shoes are suggested.-

The Borgo Antico of Senerchia, also known as the "Ghost Village", is what remains of the ancient inhabited center of the Irpinian town, located near the Ruins of the Castle. Dating back to the Middle Ages, the village was founded between the 8th and 9th centuries, developing near the fortress built by the Longobards, of which only some portions of the boundary walls and the cylindrical tower remain today, at a height of 600 metres, overhanging the valley below, to then extend downwards, where the new urban center currently stands. Life and time, in this small historical fragment, stopped at 19:34 of that tragic November 23, 1980, the date of the devastating seismic event that severely injured Senerchia as well, tearing it apart with deep evident signs, still today, in the cracks of the old inhabited and well impressed in the memories of those who lived through those tragic moments. Info: https://sistemairpinia.provincia.avellino.it/it/luoghi/borgo-antico-di-senerchia Trekking shoes are recommended.

It can be visited by reservation only.

Very suggestive and definitely challenging track in some passages but, overall, beautiful and fun. Final destination: the Montella Castle which can only be visited by reservation.

The monumental complex of the Monte, consisting of a church, monastery, archaeological garden and castle, rises just above Montella, a small town in the heart of the green Irpinia. Of great historical interest is the site of the 10th century Lombard castle with the adjacent settlement dating back to the 6th-7th century. Excavations conducted in the 1980s have brought to light finds from the Lombard and early medieval times, including coins and fragments of frescoes, as well as burials dating back to the same period. Today the central body (tower or donjon), the surrounding walls and the ruins of the rooms of the nobility are visible. In 1293 Charles II of Anjou confiscated the castle to make it a place for recreation. King Charles II was responsible for the construction of the cistern and the water channeling system. In the fourteenth century, at the behest of the d'Aquino, feudal lords of Montella, the twelfth-century tower was renovated and works to improve the building were carried out, with the creation of pictorial decorations. The castle was inhabited by the Cavaniglia counts in the 15th century, and during their lordship it hosted a memorable hunting expedition in 1445 in which King Alfonso the Magnanimous took part. The church has a single nave with side chapels. The wooden altars are of great value. In one of the side chapels there is an important thirteenth-century wooden altarpiece depicting the "Madonna dell'umiltà". The monastery was built between 1554 and 1586 on the pre-existing church at Monte di Pietà, by the Monte di Pietà di Montella, founded and administered by the Congrega del SS. Sacrament of Montella. It was entrusted to the Minimi Reformed Conventuals of S. Francesco replaced in 1603 by the reformed Observants. In 1613 a community of 12 fathers and several lay brothers lived in the convent. The feudal lord Antonio Grimaldi, in 1642, donated the garden adjacent to the convent, former dependence of the castle, to the Monte di Pietà. It has undergone several changes over the centuries: the structure has a square plan and the typical cloister with cross vaults frescoed in the seventeenth century by Michele Ricciardi. Completely recovered and made usable, the upper floors could be used for spiritual retreats, while it is still possible to visit the cells. The lower rooms, where the life of the friars took place, can be visited in full by taking advantage of the routes prepared also by means of illustrative panels present in each area. The convent garden is located in the open space adjacent to the castle; it has been recovered and the same crops from the Middle Ages that gave sustenance to the monks have been planted there. The entire monumental complex of the Monte, restored and open to visitors, is the property of the Santissimo Sacramento di Montella Archconfraternity