Montefalcone Appennino

The village sits on top of a limestone crag that drops sheer to the west like a blade, between the valleys of the Aso and the Tenna, and from up there you can see the Sibillini. The name comes from the falcons that nested on that summit: mount of the falcon. In 1239 it was taken by King Enzo, which is worth noting because in those same years Montedinove, not far away, withstood the same siege and prevailed. Earlier still the monks of Farfa had built a stronghold here and a school for clerics.

The parish church was paid for by a coachman. Livio Palmoni was from here and served as coachman to Pope Pius VII; he left the village three thousand Roman scudi, and with that money, from 1821 onwards, the comune built the church of San Michele Arcangelo that stands today. In Palazzo Felici there is instead a museum devoted mainly to fossils, where a polyptych by Pietro Alemanno is also shown, still with its original framework. And here, as a young man, the painter Osvaldo Licini lived for two years.