ITALY - MARCHE REGION
The town of Maltignano owes its name to a Roman called Publio Maltino Basso, who used to own the lands where the current town is based. The first time this name was used to refer to the town in some documents was with Charlemagne. When he came to Italy, he donated some castles in southern Tronto to Ascoli’s archbishop, which included the castle of Maltignano.
The ruler of Ascoli’s cathedral in the medieval time used to own the feud with little to no interruptions up to 1818 A.C., when feudalism was abolished.
The castle is thought to have originated to defend/protect the feud probably near 1000 A.C.
The main architectural features of Maltignano, in the old town, are the arch of the castle gate, some late Rinascimental details such as a small balcony with a double-arched window and a network of underground caves, which are still being studied.
Maltignano has suffered from several earthquakes over time. Some of the oldest inhabitants remember an episode when most of the town collapsed. In particular, the last two relevant seismic events, the one in 2009 in L’Aquila and the one in 2016 in Amatrice, have made most of the buildings in the old part of the town unusable. They caused a decrease in the number of inhabitants, who moved in the nearby areas such as Ascoli Piceno or Sant’Egidio alla Vibrata.