Collelongo  is a small town, but very rich in things to see and explore and for this reason it cannot be visited in one day, but it takes longer than at least a few days to appreciate it at all.

 

La chiesa di San Rocco. (Immagine personale)

Anyone who comes to Collelongo cannot fail to see the rich churches of the town starting with the high medieval church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, or the seventeenth-century church of San Rocco or the sixteenth-century church of Santa Maria Nuova, which contains valuable works of art art belonging to various historical periods. A visit cannot be missed to the ancient medieval baronial tower located in the center of Collelongo.

 

Resti del sito archeologico di Amplero. (Immagine daWikipedia)

 

Collelongo is an ancient village of pre-Roman origin dating back to the Marsa age and this is true by observing the important archaeological site of Amplero located a short distance from the village. The archaeological site discovered in the 1970s is made up of a small village built by the MARSI more or less in the 4th century BC. The village had a rather long life from the 4th century BC. to the 1st century AD and this is testified by the numerous finds found, but above all by the archaeological site itself, which shows a well-structured vicus on the Roman model.

The Marso-Roman village of Amplero is located about 5km away from Collelongo in a dense medium-low mountain bush, which then opens onto the Roman village.

 

Museo Civico di Collelongo. (Immagine personale)

 

If you want to deepen the Marsa and Roman history of Amplero, you must visit the Civic Archaeological Museum of Collelongo, which contains a very large collection of Roman and pre-Roman finds of great artistic value, found by archaeologists in their excavation campaigns. The museum also offers the possibility of visiting the ethnographic section.

 

Casa Museo Luciano Ventrone

 

For lovers of pictorial art we have the House Museum of Luciano Ventrone, one of the most important painters on the Italian scene of the second half of the 20th century. Many of his works are exhibited in this museum, which have a considerable economic and artistic value.

 

Bosco di Val Cervara a poca distanza da Collelongo. (Immagine personale)

 

But the highlight of Collelongo is certainly its natural environment, one of a kind composed of a unique and uncontaminated nature, formed by centuries-old forests, which have recently become a UNESCO heritage site.

 

Valle di Amplero. (Immagine personale

 

Remaining on the environmental theme, another very beautiful and unique place is the beautiful Valle di Amplero, with all its history and culture that it carries with it.