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Piazza Torre Antica in Campagnano: the Medieval Heart of the Town and the Annibaldi Towers
The oldest nucleus of Campagnano lies Between Via di San Giovanni and Via del Duomo: a citadel within the town, with its own entrance gate in Piazza Calderari (Calderari Square). The surrounding medieval towers, built in the 13th century with characteristic tufelli masonry — small, regular blocks of tufa laid in neatly ordered courses (opus vittatum) — are the visible mark of a power that became established here for over a century.
The cardinal who wrote the rules from Viterbo
In the second half of the 13th century, Campagnano was ridding itself of the control of the Roman monasteries of Saints Cosmas and Damian (Santi Cosma e Damiano) and Saint Paul Outside the Walls (San Paolo fuori le Mura). But remaining without a powerful protector was unthinkable. In 1270, while Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi was involved in the extraordinarily long Conclave of Viterbo (1268–1271), the people of Campagnano swore fealty to him, and in return he granted them a statute. The towers date from this period: probably built by individual local families, around the Torre Antica (Old Tower) at the centre of the complex.
From the Annibaldi to the Orsini
Between 1271 and 1370, as the fief passed down from generation to generation to the Annibaldi heirs, the wooden palisades between the towers were replaced by stone walls, and in the heart of the complex, new buildings were erected, symbolising the rise of a few families. The Black Death of 1348 brought everything to a halt, and from 1410 the town passed to the Orsini family, who within a few years built one of the largest domains of central Lazio.
