Castello di Oricola

Castello di Oricola stands in Oricola, Italy. The first stronghold on this site was raised in the ninth century by Rainaldo, Count of the Marsi, as a defensive fortress under his authority.

The original construction was intended to protect against raids by Saracens and Hungarians, with a fortress core and additional towers linked by curtain walls. In 1096 the castle passed into the hands of Aldegrina, also recorded as Aldegrima, who was the daughter of Pandolfo, Prince of Capua and Countess of Carsoli; she gave the property that year to the Abbey of Montecassino. A year later, in 1097, the place appears under the name Auricola among holdings confirmed by a papal bull of Pope Urban II to Abbot Oderisio of Montecassino.

In 1242 the castle suffered a direct military action when Frederick II attacked it after Carsoli had been destroyed, while he pursued fugitives who had taken refuge in Oricola. After a period of changing control, Oricola became a fief of the Orsini family in 1381. The building acquired the form seen today following a mid-fifteenth-century rebuilding carried out after the destructive earthquakes of 1456 and 1461.

In 1491 the Colonna family obtained the castle. In 1528 the Orsini overcame the Colonna near Magliano de’ Marsi; the castle was sacked during those clashes and then returned to Orsini control. In 1557 troops from the Duchy of Tagliacozzo and Albe invaded and sacked Oricola and neighbouring fortifications. The structure sustained only light damage in the 1915 Marsica earthquake and has been the subject of repeated restorations in the decades that followed. Today part of the northwest wing houses municipal offices, the ground floor on the left side of the main façade contains post office facilities, and the remainder of the complex is in private hands.