Almost the whole plateau of the Cinquemiglia lies within this comune, and for centuries crossing it in winter was dangerous: those who ventured on and were caught in a blizzard often did not come out. In February 1528 three hundred soldiers died there, from the league Venice was sending against Charles V; in March of the following year five hundred Germans died, under the prince of Orange, on their way back from L'Aquila. Eight hundred men in thirteen months, killed by the snow and not by weapons.
The village has changed its name four times. First it was Florina, after a church; then Vallescura, because it lies in a narrow valley facing north and closed in by mountains; under Murat it became Rocca Letizia by decree, in honour of Napoleon's mother, but nobody ever called it that and the Bourbons annulled the whole thing. On the twenty-first of October 1860 Victor Emmanuel II passed through on his way to Teano, where he was to meet Garibaldi, and he was asked the favour of changing the name: that day he had received a letter from his daughter Maria Pia, queen of Portugal, and the village has been Rocca Pia ever since.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Rocca Pia
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
