Overview
Castel di Ieri lies within the Sirente Velino Regional Natural Park, perched on the coast of Mount Urano.
The village is dominated by the Tower, built in the 13th century as a lookout and defense point along the Via Valeria. It represents the last important evidence of the stronghold of the Counts of Celano.
Surrounding the Tower is the historic centre that, with narrow streets, historic buildings and small details of a bygone era, will take you back in time and immerse you in an ancient, engaging and magical setting. All around, woods and rocks embrace the village and guard it, like silent and faithful guardians.
A walk through the village, watched over by the careful eye of the tall tower, will have the ability to restore that seraphic serenity that only a perched mountain village can provide climbing this cobblestone hill will be a pleasure for the senses and the spirit.
Wandering around the village you can visit the Italic Temple, a place of worship of the Peligni Superequani located at "Piè di Franci". In the archaeological area, as of 1987, a well-preserved temple was found, built in the 2nd century B.C., on a preexisting earthen foundation. The structure, italic, consists of a pronaos and a cella, separated into three equal rooms, perhaps intended for three gods. The floor is mosaic and there is an inscription in the central cell.
Later excavations unearthed a second temple, called Temple B, characterized by a central cella, possibly from the mid-Roman-Republican period, and a necropolis dating to the 8th century B.C., referable to a high-ranking patron because of the grave goods consisting of fibulae, bracelets and amphorae.
The Mother Church of Santa Maria Assunta in cielo, which preserves the remains of Castel di Ieri's patron saint, San Donato, celebrated in August in the town's typical festival, is also worth a visit.
Between Castel di Ieri and Goriano Sicoli, in a small gorge in the Subequana Valley, you will come across the Hermitage Sanctuary of the Madonna di Pietrabona. The legend of the Sanctuary's foundation is linked to the vow of a faithful farmer who escaped a flood thanks to the invocation of the Madonna della Pietra, from which the name Madonna della Pietrabona would derive. One can assume an overlay of Christian worship on an ancient shrine dedicated to the goddess Bona, since the area was densely populated and archaeological excavations have uncovered remains of a temple. The Hermitage is surrounded by a pleasant grove of oaks and hazels called the "Sacred Wood."
In this characteristic village, you can enjoy a variety of traditional, local and regional dishes. We invite you to taste earth escargots with spicy sauce, spelt fettuccine, micischia, called "the shepherd's cod", sheep or occasionally goat meat (the production of which is limited to a few mountain villages and to special occasions that keep this ancient tradition alive) seasoned with pepper, chili and rosemary