On the hills of the small municipal area of Arcevia, between the Umbria-Marche Apennines and the Adriatic Sea, there are, alongside the traces of other fortifications no longer easily recognisable, nine castles of fourteenth-fifteenth century layout which still retain all their historical charm. defensive walls, doors, towers and churches as well as housing frescoes and works of art of considerable importance. Time seems to have stopped, in the secluded silence of these very small and ancient villages that bear such important traces of the peninsula's past gathered around this delightful town in the province of Ancona. The castles of Arcevia are all inserted within beautiful fourteenth/fifteenth century walls still intact in their typology. The hamlets in which they are located are small inhabited centers of great historical-artistic importance, which increase the notoriety of Arcevia...therefore they deserve to be visited one by one: Nidastore, Loretello, San Pietro in Musio, Montale, Avacelli, Piticchio , Palazzo, Caudino and Castiglioni. The shape of the landscape makes each location particularly suitable for walks and excursions, even by mountain bike. The Monte della Croce and Monte Sant'Angelo are crossed by suggestive paths that are easily practicable.
While for the Romans the word castrum designated the camp fortified by the legionaries, over the centuries, and in particular around the year one thousand, castrum took on the value of castle or fortress. Initially made of wood, the fortifications were then built of brick with splendid and natural colors that fit and blend harmoniously into the enchanting views of the hills above. Castellum, the diminutive of castrum, in the sense of fortress and fortified field, also indicated a group of houses, or village, surrounded by walls and largely located on a high ground or sheer rock that was difficult to access, and also had the meaning of refuge, or a place designed for hiding.
Over the centuries the Misa valley was a land of passage and of raids and disputes, so our beautiful Italy, which saw a great flourishing of castles and fortresses from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, so much so that it still bears very rich manifestations, shows right here in the Marche region and in the small patch of the municipality of Arcevia a record of copious and splendid examples of steep towers, twisted alleys, rigorous portals and massive arches and imposing walls and walkways guarding the ancient villages.
Arriving from the Arceviese Provincial Road 360, after passing the Serra de Conti plain you begin to climb and discover the first two of the nine castles of medieval origin that can be admired in the Arcevia area.
At the top of a circular hill at 280 meters above sea level is the Montale Castle, whose fortification is still evident in the mighty surrounding walls and the patrol walkway and which we hear about for the first time in 1223 as a possession of the Bishop of Senigallia: It was destroyed first in 1250 and then in 1280 by Rocca Contrada for the conquest of the important outpost. The watchtower was reused after 1830 for the rebuilding of the bell tower of the church of San Silvestro. 
Next to the first and still on a hill, seven kilometers from Arcevia and 375 meters above sea level, stands the Piticchio Castle. Also named in 1223 among the possessions of the Bishop of Senigallia, it was destroyed several times and subjugated by Rocca Contrada at the end of the 200s. The castle now shows the typically restored fifteenth-century layout, mainly in brick, centered on the surrounding walls and the walkway with wide shoe. Here the church of San Sebastiano preserves 3 canvases and two representative tablets by Ercole Ramazzani, on a carved and gilded wooden reredos from the XNUMXth century. 
Perched on the slopes of Mount Caudino, in the upper valley of the Fenella stream, at 516 m. above sea level and with a singular urban structure that develops along the slopes of the mountain, there is Palazzo: a castle, or rather, a walled town, built in the second half of the 300th century by Rocca Contrada following the abandonment of the two noble fortifications of Sassellero and Sterleto. Paolo Santini writes in his book “ARCEVIA Itinerary in History and Art” that the locality is remembered in a deed of donation made in 1130 by Dago of the late Guglielmo, Lombard, to the hermitage of S. Croce di Fonte Avellana, of his properties also located "in fundo Palazolo" with everything they contain. In the Middle Ages it was included among the possessions of the archbishops of Ravenna in the Massa di Sorbetole, disputed by the bishops of Senigallia and Fossombrone. Passed at the end of the XNUMXth century. under the dominion of Arcevia, like the rest of the territory of the former Massa following the victorious war waged against the city of Fossombrone, it followed its historical events.
Equipped with powerful sections of stone and terracotta walls and two entrance doors - one of which is still a beautiful fifteenth-century door - Palazzo d'Arcevia, like a nativity scene, shows a cluster of alleys and ancient fortified houses perched on the slopes of Mount Caudino which keep the ancient medieval structure and all their charm almost intact over the centuries. Here you can admire the imposing late Baroque construction of the church of Santi Settimio e Stefano (from the first half of the 1751th century) - attributed to a member of the Vici family of architects, originally from Palazzo - and the private Oratory of San Venanzio (59 -'2010) built to a design by Arcangelo Vici, with beautiful frescoes inside. This is what Prof. writes about the Palazzo, a fascinating image of our ancient and precious historical and architectural memory to be saved. Angelo Verdini in XNUMX:
“Of bread, of poetry” – Meeting with the group “The poets of the hermitage”
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
Palazzo deserves poetry
because Palazzo is capable of corresponding
to the states of the gaze of those who admire it,
because whoever looks at Palazzo
he finds in us the mirror of all the nuances of his own feelings.
Just position yourself on the road in front,
the one that comes from Arcevia,
and Palazzo immediately appears well planted in the rock
solid, indestructible, resistant
and whoever looks at it receives security, rootedness, reliability and trust.
If the viewer takes a few steps forward on that path
Palazzo changes its attitude,
now it seems happily clinging to the mountain on which it stands,
those who were afraid of getting lost no longer get lost,
those who were afraid of getting lost no longer get lost,
those who were afraid of sinking no longer sink.
Palazzo is there ready to protect, ready to save,
available to interrupt distressing dreams
to console the incredulous awakenings.
If the viewer travels yet another little bit of that road
Palace suddenly
it hovers in the air, loses consistency,
it only mixes with the sky, with the clouds, with the wind
it becomes light, very light, it rises and flies into the light
and invites those who watch to fly with him
to imagine with him, to invent with him.
If those who travel that road linger waiting for the night
Palazzo transforms into a nativity scene
teeming with lights and shadows, shapes and contours
and it gives you back your whole and mysterious life
courage, happiness and bliss.
________________________________________
A beautiful climb still awaits us to reach the Caudino Castle, where a memorable battle was fought between Guelph and Ghibelline forces for possession of the territory. Caudino was built as a palace in the second half of the 1338th century, incorporating the surrounding villas, following the reorganization of settlement, but also of control, initiated in that period by Rocca Contrada on its territory. Located on the borders of the Arceviese territory towards Pergola, dependent on the diocese of Nocera Umbra. First mentioned in 1400, it is one of the later castles of Rocca Contrada. Already an important bastion for the defense of the territory west of Arcevia, and in various ancient documents also remembered as Colgodino and Casadino, it controlled the transit towards Pergola and the Duchy of Urbino, as Paolo Santini writes in his book "ARCEVIA Itinerary in History and 'Arte', was fortified and elevated to the rank of Castle at the beginning of 1407 and as such is mentioned in the Arceviese camerlengo's book of XNUMX. 
In 1411 it was occupied by the Malatesta militias and controlled by the soldiers of Fano and the garrison was strengthened with 350 infantry under the orders of Guido da Ridolfo, together with sappers, bricklayers, carpenters and other craftsmen as well as 50 pairs of oxen, to participate in the siege of Rocca Contrada from 1413. Paolo Santini writes that the castle was recovered by Braccio da Montone in the second half of 1416 while in January 1434 Rocca Contrada and all its castles were subjugated by Francesco Sforza. In February 1445, on the occasion of the distribution of Sforza horses and soldiers in the castles for winter rest, Caudino was assigned 7 and 10 respectively, having at that time 14 fires, approximately 70 inhabitants. With the unification of Italy, it lost its prerogatives of a nearby municipality was reconfirmed in Arcevia. From the census of December 1861 it appears that 14 families with 37 inhabitants lived in the center of Caudino, while in its surroundings there were 148 inhabitants. 
Caudino, which today is an uninhabited village, still retains its fifteenth-century urban layout, and part of the ancient fortified structure, with large sections of bastioned walls and the picturesque access portal, adapted to the new traffic needs, in an area of great panoramic charm, overlooked by Monte Sant'Angelo. About a mile from the castle above Mount S. Biagio there once existed a small monastery with an adjoining abbey church dedicated to the holy bishop and martyr. In 1760 Card. Antonelli, commendatory abbot, agreed, contributing to the costs, to the request to build the new church of S. Biagio and the parish church of S. Simone, which was located lower down and documented since 1376, respectively near and inside the castle. The two old churches had to be destroyed and the resulting materials used for the new ones. In the center of the village, next to the ancient bell tower, stands the church, with a single nave, dedicated to S. Stefano Martire and renovated in 1766. Consecrated by the bishop of Nocera in 1824, it houses a fresco on the carved wooden altar from 1500, most likely coming from the ancient church of S. Simone and attributable to GG Pandolfi from Pesaro depicting the Madonna of Loreto.
The small castle of S. Pietro, the smallest of the castles of Arcevia, stands on a hill at a height of 354 m. and a short distance from the nearby castle of Loretello. The castle of San Pietro in Musio, an important strategic point for Rocca Contrada, was mentioned for the first time in 1230, when some of its inhabitants made a deed of castellania to Rocca Contrada itself. Almost unchanged in its fifteenth-century urban layout, it however retains few traces of the original wall structures. The brick wall with the rampart walkway remains, without any hint of small towers and overhangs.
Just outside the walls there is the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Montevago (XNUMXth century), where the beautiful Marian image frescoed by Venanzio da Camerino and Piergentile da Matelica is preserved.
