The Vescovio Abbey is a rural church in the municipality of Torri in Sabina which has represented, from the Middle Age up to the fifteenth century the seat of the Diocese of Sabina,
It was therefore a basic power center for the Apostolic Chamber, the Pope's governing body, that was in early medieval age attempting to reconstruct his own "empire" after the end of the Roman Empire. It was no coincidence that this site had been strategic already in Roman times: it was the site of the Roman city/market Forum Novum, of which the ruins still remain in the square aside the church. It was the fulcrum of rural and commercial activities of the Roman Sabina. From the square of Vescovio you can wedge among hills in a narrow valley leading to Casperia, and you can visit its wonderful unique historic center one of the most beautiful and elegant villages in Italy. You will be making a jump ahead in time of a thousand years. The landscape of Casperia, just with its perched position, tells about the medieval conflictual society, in which peoples were fragmented in tiny communities, eachone with its own fortified castle on the top of hills. Around Casperia, within less than 2 miles there were 3 castles! But only that of Casperia, originally called "Aspra" (litteraly "steep" in english), just to emphasize its unapproachable entrenchment, managed to survive to history. From Casperia in the midst of an intricate mosaic of olive groves, fields and vineyards, very rich in terms of variety of vegetation and wildlife, we will resume the way to Vescovio recalling the paths of the merchants who used to transport their commodities in the market City.
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