The castle where Pope Celestine V died and the hanging garden
On a conical hill nearly 800 metres high in the Ciociaria, Fumone dominates the whole valley: its name comes from the smoke signals ("fumo") that were sent from here to Rome to warn of approaching enemies. The village of stone houses is gathered around the Castello Longhi-De Paolis, a medieval fortress used for centuries as a prison of the Papal States.
Its most famous prisoner was Pope Celestine V, the hermit pope who resigned in 1294, an event Dante condemned as "the great refusal": imprisoned by his successor Boniface VIII, he died in the castle in 1296, and his tiny cell can still be visited. The castle has a hanging garden, one of the highest in Europe, with views over sixty villages, and is the subject of legends, including one about a child of the family whose embalmed body is kept in a room.
Tip: the castle is privately owned and visited with a guide; the panorama from the gardens on a clear day reaches the sea.
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