The context is that of a reserve of great environmental value in the upper Sele valley, around two mountains, the Eremita, 1579 meters high, and the Marzano, which reaches 1527 metres.
Both form a limestone massif identified as an important naturalistic corridor between the Picentini Mountains, also protected by a vast regional park, and nearby Basilicata. Precisely the conformation of that territory, on some of the main connecting routes between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Adriatic, made it ideal for the creation of a network of watchtower and defense castles since the Norman era. The castle of Laviano was also an integral part of that system, built in a strategic position on a high rocky spur overlooking a deep valley of rare beauty, the Vallone delle Conche. It was built in the 12th century by Count Guglielmo, to whom Roger the Norman had entrusted Laviano as soon as it was made a county.
For centuries the fortress played its role, protecting the village that had grown next to it and the surrounding territory, but already in the seventeenth century it began to lose importance, hand in hand with the progressive decrease of the population of Laviano. However, the long phase of decline, which then transformed into abandonment, had not significantly compromised the powerful structure of the fortress until the 1970s. The earthquake of 1980 destroyed almost everything that had resisted over the centuries, which razed ancient Laviano, including the castle, to the ground.
After the reconstruction of the town, in 2004 a powerful restoration and anti-seismic consolidation of the fortified citadel was also started, which made it possible to recover the trapezoidal perimeter, the corner towers, the moats and the access bridges to the outside and, inside, the large courtyard with the well and part of the original buildings. Thus, in 2008, the monument was reopened to the public, to whom a series of information signs are addressed, explaining the history and life of ancient Laviano, reproduced to scale in a model. There is also an exhibition of ancient tools, mostly linked to agricultural activity.
Upon leaving the castle, a few steps away, after passing a somewhat steep staircase, you can have the experience of walking on a Tibetan bridge about a hundred meters long, suspended at a height of about eighty meters over the horrid charm of the Vallone delle Conche. The metal bridge, well integrated into the landscape, is anchored to the rock with steel cables, which make it safe for use even by children. You enter in small groups, a maximum of ten people, who have the opportunity to admire the gorge below and the landscape all around from an exceptional position: an image of great charm and beauty.
From the castle and the bridge you can enter the numerous paths that lead into the dense woods of the Eremita-Marzano oasis, managed by the WWF. In the picturesque Vallone delle Conche, crossed by a stream, it is possible to practice canyoning.
