Civitella is a small medieval village located on a hill opposite that of the village of Licenza where it dominates the whole valley of the river of the same name and is home to the Mount Lucretili park. Its construction dates back to the period of the fortification, when the populations took refuge in castles located on high ground.
For many years its history followed that of Percile, in fact the castles were purchased by the branch of the Napoleone Orsini family in 1288, then the castle appears to belong to the Orsini family until the mid-sixteenth century.
Then gradually, the Orsinis sold many of their castles to the Borghese family, including that of Civitella at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Civitella had an urban nucleus, a main church and a chapel dedicated to San Sebastiano to protect against pandemics but the castle was then abandoned and only a few traces can be seen today.
With the Napoleonic period, in 1809 Civitella became an independent municipality for a short period. From 1814 it became a fraction of various municipalities and finally from 1898 it was a fraction of the nearby Licenza. When they had to draw the border of the municipality of Civitella, together with the inhabitants of License they decided that two teams would leave their respective castles at dawn and the border would be their meeting point.
In reality, local history has it that the inhabitants of Civitella arrived as far as the castle of Licenza and then, through administrative channels, it was decided to place the border where the cemetery of Licenza is today.
Today the village of Civitella is animated by few people during the winter but is very active with the house of culture and local naturalistic associations.
From its highest point in correspondence with the square of the church of Saints Phlip and James at 735 meters above sea level, you can enjoy a 360-degree panorama of the Lucretili Mountains, the Ruffi Mountains and the Simbruini Mountains and the municipalities of Percile and Saracinisco can be distinguished. Here is the fountain of the Pavanello spring.
Follow us