TOWER OF CHIA

HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION

Chia is a small fraction of Soriano nel Cimino. The village, which stands in a panoramic position over the Tiber Valley, dates back to the medieval period. The surroundings are surrounded by rich wooded areas, where one of the most precious assets of the Sorianese artistic heritage stands: the Tower. Walking along the path, which opens up among oak trees, you reach the ancient building, which, rising from the green of nature, in an uncontaminated landscape, crossed by streams and small waterfalls, offers visitors an indescribable spectacle. . What remains consists of the remains of the castle built in the thirteenth century and belonged for a long time to the Orsini; according to Silvestrelli it was the property of Capèllo, lord of Chia, judged for heresy in 1260; it was his sons who sold the keep to the Municipality of Viterbo. Several popes, such as: Boniface VIII, Clement V, Clement VI, Gregory XI, exercised control over it. With the end of the Municipality of Viterbo, the Torre di Chia also fell into sharp decline.
Pier Paolo Pasolini, in 1964, while filming the first scenes of the Gospel according to Matthew, visited the place and was particularly fascinated by it; he therefore decided to buy and restore the ancient building (1970), to make it his home. Cultural events are often held at the Tower, such as concerts, meetings, conferences. The complex overlooks, for a long stretch, the deep natural overhang of the ditch, which surrounds the building and is defended, on the part of easier access, by an artificial moat. The actual castle, reduced to a state of ruin, retains an incorporated tower and a wall that includes the pentagonal tower, with Ghibelline battlements, which rises 42 m high.