Castelpoto is a municipality of about 1,200 inhabitants with an urban layout dating back to the Longobard and Norman periods.
Its historic village is characterised by several uninhabited and ruined buildings, making it an almost ghost town. The boundary of the ghost town is marked by the clock tower of the ducal palace: its hands stand still, as if to decree the extinction of the medieval village.
The village of Castelpoto had to face several disasters during its history, such as: the plague epidemic in the 17th century, the cholera epidemic in the 19th century, a major bombing during the Second World War that caused many victims and two major earthquakes, in 1962 and 1980, that ruined the ancient settlement and made several houses uninhabitable.