MONTEMONACO  ( CASTRUM MONTIS MONACI )

The name of Montemonaco comes from Benedectine Monks who were the first colonizers of this area. In 1250 ca. Montemonaco became a free city-state. The inhabitants of the village built, with the help of Lombard mason's master, the high walls in local tuff spaced out by robust towers. Proud and intolerant of every servitude, they were able to contrast the assault of Francesco Sforza and Niccolò Piccinino and of the neighbouring city-states. The municipal statute based on the Benedectine one was definitively printed in 1545 while in 1549 the Town Hall was built, at that time, seat of the magistrate, of the priors  and of the council that administered the small town. Montemonaco had always been among the towns of the Presidiato Farfense until the election of Pope Sisto V when it was included in the presidiato of Montalto he had created.