The ruins of the fortified village of Ocre rise above a hill at 933 metres and offer an extraordinary panorama. This castle, situated at the centre of Aterno valley, in medieval times assumed an important strategic position because it could control most of the Aquila basin.
Founded in about the twelfth century and destroyed for the first time in 1280 by the inhabitants of Aquila, it was reconstructed and later conquered by Fortebraccio from Montone in 1424. After changing fortunes the village and the castle, in about the sixteenth century, went into a slow decline. The castle wall, almost entirely preserved, has a nearly triangular plan constructed in limestone with various square towers.
