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The "rebellious" tradition in the area of Laga dates back to the distant 89 B.C. when the city of Asculum was destroyed and the survivors found shelter among the woods of Fiori mountain and the actual Valle Castellana. In the Middle Ages, because of the conditions of poverty, the brigandage spread so that Pope Sisto V sent thousands of soldiers to embank the phenomenon through repression and "diplomacy", granting grace to over 600 bandits prepared to fight voluntary against the Turks. On the end of the XVIII century begins the modern brigandage on Monti della Laga: farmers and mountaineers rose up in bloody way against "invaders."
Characteristic and picturesque it is the figure of them, Donato De Donatis, priest of Pezzelle, near Cortino, known for his ferocious raids. Says Joseph Costantini "Sciabolone", companion of De Donatis, in 1799, after having massacred the French garrison it arrived to "conquer" Ascoli, but the siege didn't last for a long time. It was then beside commander Matteo Wade during the resistance of Fortezza di Civitella. With the capitulation of the fortitude he hid in the woods of Laga, where he was enlisted as "hunter" of bandits. The guides of Sciaboloni, beat these mountains to search the brigands. Ciprietti also called Jacone of Campovalano, was picked up, beheaded and his head exposed out of the boundaries of the city to warning the others wicked.
