The territory of Tufillo was inhabited in the pre-Roman period by the Frentans. The primitive settlement was near Monte Farano, now an important archaeological site.
In 1933, on Monte Farano, a votive key was found on which is engraved in the Oscan language a dedication to HERENTAS (Aphrodite): “herettates : sum / agerllud” (are of Herentas / by Agello).
Also in the territory of Tufillo was found a bronze statuette depicting juvenile Jupiter or Hercules, particularly venerated among the Frentane populations. This suggests that the first settlement must be located on the highest part of its territory, Monte Farano, 705 meters above sea level.
The “Clerici de Tufillis”, cited on the inventory of the assets of the Diocese of Chieti, on 19 March 1323, among those who are required to pay tithes, attest for the first time on an official document the name of Tufillo.
The territory of Tufillo, as can be derived from the bull of Pope Nicholas II, is part of the Diocese of Chieti at least from the beginning of the eleventh century, in fact the Pontiff, in May 1059, thus delimits the southern border of the Theatine diocese: … passes to the Monte di Schiavi, to the Trigno and, along the river, reaches the sea”. Previously, in the 12th century Catalogus Baronorum, it is mentioned Lupeczanum, today Colle Vezzani, as a fief of Philippus Grandenatus of probable Lombard origin.
The name Lipuzani in 1115 is found in the description of the borders of the Castrum Doliolae, donated by Ugo Grandenatus to the abbot Giovanni of the monastery of Sant’Angelo in Cornacchiano.
It is also known that from the slopes of the mountain comes a bronze key famous for the inscription in the Oscan language herettates: sum/agerllud (I am of Herentas/da Agello), which mentions the deity to whom the former vow was intended, Herentas (Aphrodite)and Agello, probable name of the vicus, that is the ancient inhabited nucleus that dedicates the key to the goddess.
The Territory of Tufillo has also returned a bronze statuette, 17 cm high, possibly depicting Jupiter youth: it lacks in fact the lion skin, typical attribute of Hercules, replaced by a cloak draped around the left arm, The object held in the right hand of the figure looks just like the lightning that distinguishes the representations of this deity.
The statuette, that for style and structure of the body cannot be dated before the III sec. a.c., almost certainly comes from a sanctuary, but nn we know if it was also located on Monte Farano or in other area of the countryside of this town.
The ancient frequenting of the territory of Tufillo finds further confirmation in the presence of various sites of undoubted archaeological interest that, although they have not yet been the subject of systematic investigations, certainly reserve interesting aspects for the reconstruction of ancient topography and local history.
The locality Piana S. Pietro, for example, located on the south-eastern slopes of Monte Fanino, was home to an ancient monastery whose memory has been kept alive by the oral tradition also through the name “Fonte dei monaci” attributed to a nearby spring.
The existence of the monastery is attested by a rather late document, the report of the pastoral visit of 13 May 1568 which, among the existing religious buildings in the oppidum Tufilli, mentions the ecclesia sul vocabulo S. Petri constructa in territorio Tufillo in loco ubi dicitur la defensa della Corte. The frequenting of the area, certain until the sixteenth century, seems however to date back to a much older age, judging by the chronology attributable to the ceramic fragments (black paint, African sealed, etc.) easily found on the surface. Probably the religious building was installed on previous structures, perhaps a villa of half coast born in the Hellenistic age and used until the advanced imperial age.
Particular attention is also given to the locality indicated in the current cartography as Colle Vezzani, corresponding to the ancient “Lupezzano”, whose name, preserved through oral tradition, is attested in medieval documentary sources. From the Catalogus Baronum we learn in fact that in the twelfth century. Lupeczanum was a fief of Philippus Grandenatus, a member of a feudal family of probable Lombard origin and feudal lord of Joczolinus, count of Loreto.
Subsequently appears the quote of the limites Lipuzani in the description of the boundaries of the castrum Diliolae, chenel 1115 is donated to Ugo Grandenatus abbot John of the monastery of Sant’Angelo in Cornacchiano, and the year 1324-25 dates back finally the mention of the clerics de Tufillis and other countries, depended on the aforementioned monastery of Sant’Angelo.