Marche Breaks

The definition that Guglielmo Allevi (the person responsible for the finding of one necropolis built in the 6th century B.C.) gave in 1874 about the castle of Spinetoli, describes very well this place and its suggestions.

Spinetoli built in around the 9th  century – to respect the wishes of a Lombard’s feudatory - on the remains of a Romans temple dedicated to Tellùre Godess, had to face famine and periods of splendour.  Spinetoli had to suffer first,  numerous sacks by Francesco Sforza’s troops and then,  the papal army that caused serious damages to its buildings restored at the end of the 16th century but after that, they had to suffer drastic modifications and transformations between 18th and 19th centuries.

Despite of, Spinetoli preserves untouched the charm of its ancient village surrounded by a wonderful landscape.

In the old town, passing through arcades and admiring fabulous foreshortenings, the ancient tower raises and, nearby,  we find the Town Hall built in the 16th century preciously decorated with a beautiful ceiling defined “a cassettoni”.

Several churches preserve works of art of great value and, coming down the valley, there is the sanctuary of Madonna delle Grazie (or dell’Icona) an important reference point for many devotes built in the 8th century, where we can see an interesting fresco of the 15th century.

Near the old town of Spinetoli we find a small village called Pagliare; its name is due to the typical house , in straw and clay,  built at the end of the 9th century for the serfs.

In the “Oasi La Valle”, that is distributed over a wide territory called Piana di Spinetoli, the landscape maintains the beauty and the harmony of the traditional rural buildings which have always characterized the local rural population; in addition the shade of a secular oak-tree permits us to see  herons and falcons.

To preserve the ancient traditions the women of Spinetoli, with fast and  agile movements of their fingers, still produce precious laces using the lace-pillow.