The Ducal Castle of Casoli

A pentagonal tower with a whole village grown around it. D'Annunzio stayed here; in 1943 it became the British headquarters.

The story

The ducal castle of Casoli stands at the centre of the town plan, at the top of the built-up area about 300 metres above sea level, on a hill on the right bank of the river Aventino overlooking the valley, within sight of other towers and castles so as to control the approaches along the Sangro and the Aventino.

Its history is bound up with that of the lords of Casoli: in the 12th century it belonged to the County of Manoppello; from 1369 to 1489 to the Orsini family, under whom the present structure can be dated; from 1556 to 1806 to the D'Aquino family.

The tower and the town that wraps around it

The original core is the tall pentagonal spur tower, put up near the church of Santa Maria Maggiore as a defence on a territorial scale, but also to control the way into the castle. The houses were built around it following a wrapping pattern of settlement, fitting perfectly to the shape of the site and staggering the streets so as to strengthen the defence of the whole town.

The residential block, which today is laid out around a courtyard, is largely of the Renaissance. The largest range, to the south — the residential wing proper — has wide windows that underline its character as a nobleman's palace, and an elegant crowning cornice with brick corbels carrying pointed arches. The crown of the tower is more elaborate, with stone corbels of three projecting members and machicolations.

D'Annunzio, the Masciantonio family, the war

The 19th and 20th-century history of the castle is tied to the name of the Masciantonio family, who owned it until 1981, when the municipality acquired it. The Masciantonio family played host to Gabriele D'Annunzio, who stayed here several times, often in the company of Michetti, a relative of the Honourable Pasquale Masciantonio. Since 1928 the ducal palace and the tower have been National Monuments.

Restoration by the municipality has brought a number of rooms back into use: “The Room of Silence”, which holds a permanent exhibition on the leading figures of the Cenacolo Abruzzese — Michetti, Tosti, Barbella, Scarfoglio, Serao and De Titta — regular guests of the member of parliament whom D'Annunzio called, in friendship, “Pascal”; and “The D'Annunzio Room”, where the poet lived for a time, leaving several inscriptions on the walls.

Then there is “The Lionel Wigram Room”, dedicated to the major in the British army who during the Second World War did much to have the newly formed partisan unit Brigata Majella recognised and joined to the Army of Liberation. Wigram died in the old centre of Pizzoferrato in one of the first military actions in which British soldiers fought alongside the partisans. A permanent display in this room follows the birth and the development of the operations carried out by the Allied Forces together with the Brigata Majella, starting from this very area. During the war, moreover, the castle of Casoli became the British headquarters.