Rocca Falluca

Rocca Falluca was a ghost town in Italy, founded around the middle of the 11th century and abandoned at the end of the 16th century. Its ruins, now reduced to a few stones, lie in the municipal territory of Tiriolo, on the border with Settingiano.

The village was built around a Norman castle on top of a steep hill, at 350 m above sea level, on the right side of the lower Corace valley, ideally placed to control the river and the isthmus of Catanzaro. The first known Falloc/Falluca, Hugh and Herbert, were both Norman knights in the following of Robert Guiscard, to whom they stayed loyal even during the rebellion of Abelard de Hauteville, son of Count Humphrey. The castle is said to have been one of three built in 1071 on Guiscard's orders, while he was besieging Palermo, to counter the rebel Abelard, who had barricaded himself in the fortress of Santa Severina.

In 1088 Miera di Falluca, Hugh's son, caught up in the struggle between Robert Guiscard's heirs Roger and Bohemond, was forced to abdicate in favour of his son Adam. Adam, however, could not keep the family fief, which that same year was split between Count Roger and Rodolfo di Loritello. In 1096 Count Roger gave the castle of Rocca Falluca to the Latin bishop of Squillace, and in 1128 it was incorporated into the diocese of Catanzaro; finally, in the time of Frederick II, Rocca Falluca passed to the Ruffo family. Despite the castle's clear defensive purpose, Rocca Falluca was attacked by the Saracens. In the 16th century it was one of the very few places in Calabria where the population fell instead of growing (from 141 "hearths", or households, to just 18).

Text: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · translated from Italian