The name says where it is: among the rocche of the plateau this one held the middle position, halfway between the valley of the Aterno and Avezzano, and the rock can still be seen in the upper part of the village. The singular thing here is the water. Everything that falls on the plateau and everything that comes out of its many springs ends in the swallow holes and goes on underground. The water that sinks at Terranera comes back up about three kilometres away and six hundred metres lower, in the caves of Stiffe; where the water that sinks under the Sirente comes out is still unknown. And a watershed runs inside the comune: the line passes between Rocca di Mezzo and Rovere, and what falls to the south of it ends in the Tyrrhenian, what falls to the north in the Adriatic.
On the fifteenth of February 2012, at the Piani di Pezza, a temperature of thirty-seven degrees and four tenths below zero was recorded: the lowest ever measured in the whole of the Apennines and among the lowest in Italy and in western Europe, which counts for still more given how relatively low the latitude and the altitude are. The long snow, the rough ground and the scarcity of roads kept this plateau isolated for centuries; in the Middle Ages it belonged to the county of Celano, until about 1462. Today Rocca di Mezzo is the seat of the Sirente-Velino regional park and a summer resort: in summer the inhabitants multiply with people from Rome, as in the past with the nobility and the high bourgeoisie of the capital.
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on 11 January (a summer feast of Saint Leucius is also held in late July)
On 11 January Rocca di Mezzo celebrates its patron Saint Leucius; the town is also known for its Narcissus Festival, held on the last Sunday of May since 1947.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Rocca di Mezzo, but an easy day trip away.
