Monte Pallano Archaeological Area, Chieti | Hours, exhibitions and artworks on Artsupp

The Archaeological Area of Monte Pallano is located on the homonymous plateau that rises in the heart of the Sangro Valley and is easily accessible from the road that connects the villages of Tornareccio and Colledimezzo. Climbing up the road that leads to the plateau, you reach a small depression where the portion of the settlement brought to light by the excavations of the Archaeological Superintendence of Abruzzo is located. The structures belong to a settlement whose life spanned from the 4th century BC to the 2nd century AD and is organized around a large rectangular colonnaded square surrounded by rooms with different functions. The open space has been identified as the forum, the place where public life took place, as suggested by the various marble fragments found of statues that were meant to enrich the square. The area is also characterized by a system of channels, some still visible, designed to control the stagnation of rising water. Returning to the road from which you arrived and continuing north, you encounter the Cyclopean walls that have made Monte Pallano famous. The stretch of walls, known as the Paladine Walls because according to legend they were erected by Charlemagne's paladins, is preserved for about 180 meters in length and reaches a height of 5 meters. The mighty structure is made of roughly hewn local limestone blocks stacked on top of each other; in the preserved section, three small gates open, each about 80 cm wide and approximately 2.3 meters high. The walls rise on a portion of the eastern side of the plateau characterized by the presence of natural saddles that make access to the mountain easier, so much so that the gates are located along some paths still passable today, suggesting that the defensive works were built only in the most exposed sections. Towards the outside, the walls were also reinforced by circular turrets and a low terrace leaning against the walls, possibly used as an advanced launching position to strike attackers. From the archaeological evidence, it appears that Monte Pallano hosted a fortified settlement founded to be a strategic control point of the Sangro Valley in the context of the Samnite wars and abandoned at the beginning of the 2nd century AD when Roman pacification had rendered its defensive role unnecessary.

	opens - closes	last entry
monday	24:00 - 23:59
tuesday	24:00 - 23:59
wednesday	24:00 - 23:59
thursday	24:00 - 23:59
friday	24:00 - 23:59
saturday	24:00 - 23:59
sunday	24:00 - 23:59

Monte Pallano Archaeological Area

Monte Pallano Archaeological Area

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