If the Civitella stronghold could speak, it would surely be able to tell us a lot about history. In a strategic position in central Italy, exactly in one of the highest hills in the area, halfway between Valdichiana and Val d'Ambra, this place has been disputed and sought after since long time, precisely because this location allows you to control the valleys and it is located exactly in the center of Italy.
It was built between the 6th and 7th centuries by the Lombards to overlook central Italy and is today one of the best preserved examples of Lombard architecture and construction in the whole Italian country. It has remained here until today, for over 1500 years, passing a long time as territory subject to the Bishops of Arezzo, so much that for a long time the whole place was called "Civitella del Vescovo", namely “Bishops Citadel”.
The village within the walls of medieval origin joins the fortress, a building also of thirteenth-century origin built by the will of the Arezzo bishop Guglielmino degli Ubertini. Over the centuries, it has then witnessed clashes and battles between Arezzo, Siena and Florence, the latter having definitively annexed the entire area and the stronghold, which up to the twentieth century maintained perfect conditions of conservation. World War II put the entire stronghold to a test with bombing, but the structure remained standing although it received considerable damage. The Rocca also witnessed the moment of rebirth of the Civitella community, which made Memory a precious gift.
It is an eternal place full of human stories, straddling the Valdichiana and Val d'Ambra, a central area in Italy, a land of passage for peoples since ancient times. At the foot of the fortress extends the village which is protected by what remains of the medieval walls, marked by squared towers and a quadrangular base. Then the original access door remains, intact despite the bombings of the war, the “Aretina” door. The structure of the castle, with walls and a single access door, is an excellent example of a castle with a quadrangular medieval enclosure, inside which there was an entire village.
