Mevale Tower

History of the Mevale Tower

In the Middle Ages Mevale passed to the counts of Alviano, a family of Germanic origin that also held other castles along the Valnerina for a long time. The Alviano made it the center of their fief, from which they administered civil and criminal justice and military affairs.

The village suffered severe damage in recent times. The 1997 Umbria-Marche earthquake almost entirely destroyed it, leaving only a few houses and the parish church standing. After the earthquake, the consolidation and restoration of the monumental area were funded by the Marche Region. The work included consolidating the old castle tower.

What to see at the Mevale Tower

The fortress has mixed masonry of brick and exposed irregular stone. It rises in a broken conical shape.

Next to the tower is the Pieve di Santa Maria. It is Romanesque, dates from around 1100, and its bell tower was converted from an old lookout tower. In 1282 it was enlarged in Gothic forms. The church is open for use. The frescoes inside, only partly visible, date from the 15th to the 17th centuries. In the past the church was the seat of an art school, probably linked to the Angelucci, painters of the Mevale school active between the 16th and 17th centuries.

How to visit the Mevale Tower in Visso

The area was the site of consolidation work for a long time, so before setting out it is worth asking the Comune di Visso whether the castle area can be entered.

Where the Mevale Tower is

The tower stands in Mevale, a hamlet of the municipality of Visso. The hamlet is within the Sibillini Mountains National Park. Nearby are the villages of Chiusita and Renaro.

Around the Mevale Tower in Visso

Chiusita was long subject to Mevale. Today it is almost uninhabited; it was a castle of the old district of Visso. Rasenna was also part of the Alviano fief of Mevale.

To learn more about the fortified places of the area, see the page on the castles of the Sibillini Mountains. In Visso, the district of Castel San Giovanni took its name from an old chapel dedicated to the saint; after the earthquake of 1328 the district took the name Visso.