“Castrovalva” is a name of all kinds of sorts, and it has nothing to do with castration or Fidel Castro. Rather, it’s a complicated, varied, and a surprisingly difficult term to research! But it all started with a quaint little town in Italy. . .
The Real Castrovalva – Hidden in Italy’s Hill Tops
The mediaeval renaissance-esque village of Castrovalva is a small remote hill top village located in the Abruzzo region of Italy in the province of L’Aquila. It is 900 metres above sea level and is located in central/southern Italy, just to the east of Rome. It is only accessible by roads that wrap around its hills and its first recorded mention was in the 1300’s.
It is considered as part of the city of Anversa degli Abruzzi which lies just to its north. Combined, they have a population of 431 people. It also neighbours Sulmona to its north and Pascasseroli and Barrea to its south. Two-thirds of the Abruzzo region is mountainous and it is here that you’ll find the highest peak in Italy at the Corno Grande at 2,914 metres.
Castrovalva? What? Who?
Alternatively, Castrovalva was the name of a small town on a planet in Andromeda in the 19th season of the TV series Doctor Who in 1982. The four-part series that was named “Castrovalva” where those episodes are based was described by Dr. Who as, “a pleasant, villa-like city with an open courtyard, tiled floors, and soft pastel colours in its walls and pillars.” Oddly enough, it is this made-up town of Castrovalva on a planet far away that is more popular than the real Castrovalva in Italy – and is also what Dr. Who’s version is indirectly based on.
M.C. Escher’s “Castrovalva”
Finally, the artwork known as “Castrovalva” is a famous lithograph print by artist Maurits Cornelis Escher in February of 1930. Lithography became popular in the early 1900’s through Europe after its methods were improved since the lithograph’s inception about a hundred years before.
A period of his work, including this one, was based on his travels throughout Italy. It depicts the northwest view of Castrovalva and its shadowing over its presiding city, Anversa degli Abruzzi. In fact, it was this piece of artwork by M.C. Escher that the Doctor Who episodes were based on, and other pieces of his work were also utilized throughout the Castrovalva episodes.
