What is Civita d'Antino known for?

Summer school of Kristian Zahrtmann from 1883 to 1911, drawing some 80 Scandinavian painters including P.S. Krøyer. Ancient Marsi municipal town named by Pliny, with inscriptions still visible in the walls of the modern village. Marsica quake of 13 January 1915 broke the painters' colony and the 30-year link with Scandinavia.

Where is Civita d'Antino?

Civita d'Antino is a comune in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo region of Italy, about 130 kilometers from Roma.

Abruzzo · L'Aquila

Civita d'Antino

At 904 meters above the Roveto valley, the ancient Marsi town that became a Danish painters' colony from 1883 until the 1915 earthquake.

904m

Elevation

130 km / 81 mi

Nearest hub (Roma)

913

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi Autentici

Why come

Civita d'Antino sits at 904 meters on a plateau above the Roveto valley, with the Liri running below. The Latin name Antinum identifies it as a town of the Marsi people, mentioned by Pliny and confirmed by inscriptions suggesting it was a significant municipal center. The natural stone barrier around the village survived into the present. In 1883 the Danish painter Kristian Zahrtmann arrived and began spending every summer here through 1911, lodging with the Cerroni family. Around him grew an artists' colony of roughly 80 Scandinavian painters, including P.S. Krøyer, drawn by the light over the Roveto valley. Zahrtmann was made an honorary citizen in 1902. In 1908 he held an exhibition in Copenhagen marking 25 years of the Civita connection. The 1915 Marsica earthquake ended the colony. Gabriele D'Annunzio had discovered Zahrtmann's school in Venice in 1895. Most of Civita today still trades on this story.

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Gallery

4 photos · scroll →

Known for

Centro storico
Stone village on a plateau at 904 meters, the painted subject of two generations of Scandinavian artists, surrounded by a natural rock barrier.
Casa-museo Zahrtmann
Cerroni family house where Kristian Zahrtmann lodged every summer from 1883 to 1911, now a memorial museum to the painters' colony.
Resti di Antinum
Roman-era inscriptions and fragments of the ancient Marsi municipal town, scattered through the modern village walls.
Belvedere sulla Valle Roveto
Plateau-edge viewpoint over the Liri valley, the precise vantage that drew the Danish painters and held them for thirty years.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is the open stretch for Civita d'Antino. At 904 meters the village stays cool in July and August when the Roveto valley below climbs into the mid-thirties, and the plateau light, the one that drew the Danish painters, is at its longest in June and September. Early July through mid-August fills the few rental rooms with returning families. Late September is the photographer's month, when the valley fog rises into the village in the early morning. November through April is quiet. Heating bills run, the higher passes ice over, and the village reverts to its 900 residents.