This village has changed its name twice. In the Middle Ages it was called Malanotte, «bad night», after the surname of its lord, and a legend explained that name with a tribute the winners of a battle were said to have imposed on the inhabitants for a whole night. Then the name was softened into Buonanotte, «good night», and the village kept it until 1969: tired of the laughter it provoked, the inhabitants asked for and obtained the name Montebello sul Sangro.
The old village stood higher up, on a ridge. In 1887 a huge landslide razed it, and what was left was later declared unsafe: the new centre was built on a small flat area lower down. Up there remain the shepherds' houses, the ruins of the castle with its bastions set into the rock, and the bell tower of the old church — the church was dismantled to build a new one down in the village, and the tower stayed behind.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Montebello sul Sangro
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
