Ruins and landscape: study and conservation of the fortifications of Ferentillo in Umbria

The Matterella fortress and the castle of Precetto are located in the municipality of Ferentillo in the Umbrian province of Terni; the fortified structures belonged to a complex defensive system that arose to protect the southern sector of the Valnerina valley near the ancient roads to Spoleto and Monteleone. The two settlements for defending and controlling the territory are positioned one before the other along the steep slopes of the valley, which at this point forms a narrow gorge in which the Nera river runs. At the bottom of the valley, along the fortified structures, the village of Ferentillo developed during the Early Middle Ages. The territory, which belonged to the abbey of San Pietro in Valle, was ceded to the Duchy of Spoleto in the late twelfth century, and later became a fief of the Trinci, family, then of the Cybo-Malaspina family, before ending up once again under the control of the Apostolic Chamber. The Matterella fortress, built upon a pre-existing castle structure in the fifteenth century, has a squat tower at the centre of a quadrangular enclosure with large towers at the corners. The Precetto castle is a slope settlement that developed around a pre-existing lookout tower dating to the tenth century. Today, the two fortifications exist as ruins. This paper analyzes the relationship between the residual aesthetic and formal aspects expressed by pre-existing fortified structures, and how they in turn relate with their territory and their naturalistic setting, in order to guide possible proposals for their conservation.