Originally the kilns Workers engaged in the construction of the Swabian castle formed the first settlement of Rocca Imperiale. They, then, began to distinguish the place with the dialect name “Ri-carcari” or “Li-carcari” for the presence of kilns – in dialect “carcari” – in which they prepared the lime and bricks before starting to build the fortress. The rock of Rocca At the completion of the castle, the first name was soon forgotten and replaced with the current name: rocca, like rock or cliff, or fortified place, fortification built on a high place. Pre-Frederician hypothesis The village, formed by workers and a few families that settled here for guaranteed safety, after more than a decade was still insignificant, and that’s why Frederick II decided to send there a colony in 1239. The historical sources speak of a real foundation by the emperor, although many scholars trace the origin of the village many years before. 
A city under siege In medieval times Rocca Imperiale had the functions of military garrison of the plain and the south-western mountain passes. With the Anjou, the village was besieged by Charles II in 1296 and in the following centuries it was a fief of Oriolo, the principes of Salerno, the Carafa, the Raimondi and the Crivelli. Rocca Imperiale in 1644 came under the attack of the Turks who burned it, but did not get the dominion over the territory.
