Thou from the top of yonder antique tower… Leopardi's famous verses resonating in the mind in front of the natural spectacle presenting from the top of the Angevin tower in Summonte.
From there the view can sweep over the green of the Partenio Mountains, recognize the abbey of Montevergine and push towards the sea of the Gulf of Naples, far in the distance. That very wide view originated the sighting function assigned to the tower on the border of the area. As several centuries before, the same hill on which the tower stands housed a castrum, a fortified structure in a strategic position on the connecting roads between Caudina Valley, Benevento, Avellino and Salerno.
At 738 meters, that hill is located at the foot of Mount Vallatrone, a sub-mount then, a definition encountered for the first time in a document of the 10th century in reference to the agricultural property called Santa Maria del Preposito or Santa Maria ad Submonte, which in 1174 was sold in exchange to the nearby abbey of Montevergine.
A place that knew human presence even before the Romans, as evidenced by tombs belonging to a population of Oscan culture. Then, in the 5th century AD, the hill below the mountain sheltered people who fled from Nola, Abella and Abellinum during the advance of the barbarians.
That, was the core of the settlement consolidating and expanding in the following centuries. In an area where the monastic influence was significant from an economic point of view too, with the introduction of the cultivation of chestnut, still characteristic today among the Partenio mountains, of vine, of olive tree and of hazelnut tree. This was later joined by flax and mulberry which, present in that area since 1037, identifies the first example of sericulture for the production of silk in southern Italy.
Castrum was already present around the middle of the 8th century, but it was with the advent of the Normans that the castle took shape, whose existence is proven as early as 1094. Progressively, the defense works were extended to farmhouse developing all around. But neither the walls nor the corner towers that completed the fortress were sufficient to avoid its destruction in 1134 by Roger II, during the conflict that opposed it to Count Rainulfo of Avellino. Ruggero himself provided then for the reconstruction, before handing over the castle to Raone Malerba, as a feudal lord. And the Malerbas lived there for a few centuries.
It was in the 14th century, in the middle of the Angevin period, that the keep, rising from the highest point of the castle, was incorporated into a new cylindrical tower sixteen meters high, clearly visible even from considerable distances. Meanwhile, the fiefdom had passed to the Della Leonessa, who used it as a watchtower to guard the territory. The last feudal lords of Summonte, Doria del Carretto, controlled it for about two centuries, until the subversion of feudalism in 1806. The recent archaeological discoveries of the castrum have made it possible to identify the oldest structures of the tower, rising above the red roofs of the village.
The Civic Museum is located in the tower fully restored, with a collection of ancient armors from the15th-16th century and the display of artifacts found around the castle.
Built on a pre-existing structure, the mother church of Summonte is dedicated to the patron saint San Nicola. With three naves, in a distinctly Baroque style, the 17th century building houses valuable wooden statues from the 17th-18th century in the side altars. Among the numerous paintings, an 18th century depiction of the Immaculate Conception by Michele Ricciardi, a 19th century Deposition and an Annunciation displayed on the high altar. There is also a small museum attached.
But to welcome Summonte on the main square of the historic center is a green monument, a centuries old lime tree 34 meters high. This is the seal to the identity of the village, identified as one of the most beautiful in Italy.
An added value to the visit to the historic center is the important natural heritage that surrounds Summonte, with routes of considerable interest and equipped spaces. Among other things, a stretch of the Path Italy that reaches the plateau of Campo San Giovanni passes through Monte Vallatrone.
The area of Summonte is entirely included in the Partenio Regional Park.
