The Curious Case of the Vanished Spire: Civitacampomarano's Castle

Nestled on a hill of arenaria between the Torrente Mordale and the Vallone Grande, an affluent of the Biferno river, stands Civitacampomarano Castle. Once, it boasted a church before it crumbled in 1903 due to a rockslide, leaving only the bell tower remaining, which still strikes the hours with a clock. The castle's courtyard is a quadrangular mystery, with cylindrical towers at each corner, two of which are well-preserved and one was rebuilt during restoration.

The moat encircling its walls opens onto Piazza Municipio, yet slightly separates the castle from the western city wall beginning in the 15th century. The base of the church can still be seen, but the bell tower continues to sound. A group of scholars contemplate that the four figures of the Fontana dei Fauni in the inner courtyard might be depicting fauns, with some suggesting that Pirro Ligorio, whose work allegedly inspired the fountain, may have consulted with the Carafa della Spina, the castle's brief lords in Civitacampomarano.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons