Tocco vecchio

Tocco Vecchio is the name commonly given to the historic centre of Tocco Caudio, in the province of Benevento. During the twentieth century, as the town was hit by a series of destructive events, its population was gradually moved elsewhere, mainly to the modern district of Friuni. The old town was finally abandoned after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake and is a ghost town, mostly left to slowly fall apart.

The old centre of Tocco probably began during Lombard rule, when Benevento was the capital. It is recorded from 930, and in 950 it was called a «castrum». Thanks to its perched position, in 971 it was the seat of a gastaldate, and in the following centuries it went on governing today's Valle Vitulanese. Its importance is confirmed by a bishop's seat in 1058 (though it is never mentioned again).

In 1138 Tocco had walls and towers strong enough to hold out for eight days against a siege by Roger II of Sicily.

The village was badly damaged by the 1293 earthquake and above all by the 1456 earthquake, which razed it to the ground. Although people came back, it lost for good its former importance to Vitulano. The 1688 earthquake also caused very heavy damage.

In the first half of the 19th century the instability of the tuff ridge on which Tocco stood became evident. The first works to shore up the edge of the ridge were carried out only at the end of the century, and continued in the 1920s.

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