Mu.Civi.Te. – Civic Museum of the Territory of Faeto

Casa del Capitano: the stone memory of the Alta Valle del Celone

In the heart of Faeto, along Via Vittorio Emanuele, a stone doorway marks the boundary between the present and centuries of layered history. It is the entrance to the Casa del Capitano, one of the oldest buildings in the village and home of the Mu.Civi.Te. civic museum, the Civic Museum of the Territory, one of the most significant places to visit in the Alta Valle del Celone.

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The Mu.Civi.Te.: the permanent exhibition “in montibus vicatim habitantes”

Inside the Casa del Capitano is the Mu.Civi.Te. civic museum, home to the permanent exhibition entitled “L’Alta Valle del Celone — in montibus vicatim habitantes”: an expression used by Livy about the Samnites, meaning literally “living in villages in the mountains”. The title says it all: the exhibition traces the history of local settlement, from prehistory to the 16th century.

The finds: from prehistory to the 16th century

The collection gathers objects spanning an extraordinarily long period:

• Neolithic period: bone tools showing that people lived in this area long before written history
• Samnite and Roman periods: tools and pottery, including a black-glazed vase that points to the trade and cultural influences of Magna Graecia
• Middle Ages and early modern period: stone fragments of various origins, notably a 16th-century stone crucifix, a piece of religious sculpture striking for its formal quality and for what it suggests about local devotion at the time

This is not an encyclopaedic collection but a coherent itinerary: each object is a node in the web of stories that, over time, shaped this part of inland Puglia.

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What to see in Faeto: the Mu.Civi.Te. as a starting point

A visit to the Casa del Capitano takes little time but leaves a lot. Those who stop here understand that Faeto is not a village to pass through: it is a place to read, layer by layer. The museum is the most direct way to connect with the local history that might otherwise remain invisible, hidden in the walls, in the dialects, in the street names.

The slow travel that characterises the historic villages of the Monti Dauni finds one of its most authentic expressions here: no spectacle, no stage-set reconstructions. Just objects, stone and a narrative built with rigour and respect for the territory.

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Discover Faeto and the Alta Valle del Celone

The Mu.Civi.Te. is just one of the elements that make up the identity of this corner of Puglia. Keep exploring: discover more places in Faeto, its Franco-Provençal traditions, the nature trails through the woods of the Alta Valle del Celone, the local cooking and the events that bring the village to life throughout the year. Every piece adds depth to a territory that deserves to be discovered slowly and attentively.