Borrello (CH)

The Santissima Annunziata complex is the most famous and representative monument of the city of Sulmona, declared a national monument in 1902. The main entrance to the complex is on the Annunziata square although other interesting visual glimpses of the building, especially for architectural interest, are admirable from the adjacent streets, via Pantaleo and via Paolina. The church, founded in 1320 by the confraternity of the Compenitenti together with the annexed hospital, does not retain traces of the original construction, both due to the damage suffered in the earthquake of 1456 and due to the architectural transformation interventions which radically modified the original structure of the sixteenth century. Furthermore, another ruinous seismic event, that of 1706, led to a new, important reconstruction intervention which gave the church a Baroque appearance, with an imposing façade with two orders of columns, the work of Maestro Norberto Cicco from Pescocostanzo ( 1710). The interior is divided into three naves and is covered with stuccos. Among the paintings that embellish the church are the frescoes by Giambattista Gamba on the vaults and the canvases on the side altars, among which the Pentecost of 1598 by a Florentine master and the Communion of the Apostles by Alessandro Salini stands out for their quality. The apse instead presents two works by Giuseppe Simonelli, a pupil of Luca Giordano, the Nativity and the Presentation in the temple and an Annunciation by Lazzaro Baldi, a Tuscan artist who was a pupil of Pietro da Cortona. The choir, in wood, was made by the local artist Bartolomeo Balcone between 1577 and 1579, while the part underneath the organs, in a vaguely rococo style, in carved and gilded wood, is by Ferdinando Mosca. The organs, on the other hand, are the one on the left side by Tommaso Cefalo di Vasto (1749) and the one on the right side was built by the Fedeli di Camerino in 1753. At the end of the right aisle is the altar of the Virgin, in polychrome marble, a work partly executed by the Roman artist Giacomo Spagna (1620), with subsequent contributions by artists from Pescocostanzo. On the right side, shortly after the entrance, there is the tomb of Panfilo Serafini, a Sulmona patriot who died in 1864. The sacristy has carved furniture dating back to 1643 with a series of sacred furnishings from the Baroque era and Neapolitan-made silverware; there are numerous pieces from the church that are placed on display in the local Civic Museum. The bell tower (built between 1565 and 1590, imposing, just over 65 meters high, has a square plan with sides of 7.20 m; it is built on two floors with a pyramidal spire and 4 mullioned windows on each floor. It is the bell tower and tallest tower in Abruzzo.The church was reopened for worship in December 2012 after three years of closure due to the 2009 earthquake.

Mountain range which, compared to the Abruzzo National Park, extends from north to south and whose crests delimit the border between Lazio (west) and Molise (east). Due to its importance both from a naturalistic and faunistic point of view, the mountain range was inserted by presidential decree in the Abruzzo National Park in January 1990. It includes high altitude peaks that are around 2000 meters: Monte Meta (2241), Monte Metuccia, Coste dell'Altare, Monte Mare (2020), Monte Cavallo (2039), Monte Forcellone (2030). The Mainarde, like the rest of the Apennine mountains, are very ancient and of limestone origin. On them the erosion of winds and waters has left clear traces in gorges, gullies and beautiful potholes of the giants, the latter very clearly visible by anyone who looks out from the viewpoint of San Michele. Covered by dense arboreal vegetation (beech groves) up to an altitude of 1800-1900 meters, the Mainarde - beyond this altitude - offer a spectacular turf, ideal habitat for particular types of endangered fauna such as the Abruzzo chamois the Marsican brown bear, the Apennine wolf and the lynx.

Celano is a splendid town in Abruzzo, overlooking the Fucino plain, composed of a medieval village which in the upper part still preserves the Castle dating back to the 14th century.

The abbey of San Martino in Valle is a ruined Benedictine abbey near the Gole di Fara San Martino in Fara San Martino in the province of Chieti. The first historical sources on the Church located inside the Castle of Rocca S. Martino date back to 829 which list it among the possessions of the monastery of Santo Stefano in Lucania of Tornareccio, to which it had been donated by Pepin the Short. In 844 it passed under the control of the bishop of Spoleto and subsequently among the possessions of the abbey of San Liberatore a Majella. In 1044 the Theatine count Credindeo on his deathbed and for the redemption of his soul and his loved ones (recalling the capitulars of the Longobard king Liutprando) donated the church to the venerable priest Isberto so that he could endow it with an independent Benedictine monastery. In 1172 it became part of the diocese of Chieti. In 1222 Pope Honorius II confirmed the donation of Count Credindeo. The monastery was suppressed in 1452 by Pope Nicholas V and united with the Vatican Chapter, to return in 1789 to the archdiocese of Chieti. The definitive abandonment of the monastery took place on 8 September 1818 due to a flood that covered it with debris. The first excavations for its recovery took place in 1891, but only with those of 2009 were the remains of the structure fully brought to light. The remains of the abbey show a gate to an internal courtyard bordered by a three-arched portico, on the north side of which is a bell gable. The interior of the church had to have three naves with stone slab flooring. A wall with three arches separates the central nave from the northern one, from where one enters what must have been the initial nucleus of the church, dug into the rock, which suggests the birth of the place of worship as a hermitage.

The Cathedral Basilica dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle was built on the site of an ancient Roman temple. Destroyed by the Normans in 1060, it was rebuilt.

the Gole di San Martino opens with a narrow passage from the high rocky walls on the eastern slope of the Maiella, just outside the town of Fara. This is the beginning of the gorge-like valley that leads to the highest peak of the Maiella, Monte Amaro (2793 m), and includes the wildest territories of the entire massif with a 14 km long route and a difference in height of 2300 m . It can be divided into three parts: the Valle di S. Spirito, the Valle di Macchia Lunga and the Val Cannella. The latter ends with a glacial cirque in the center of which is the Manzini refuge. According to popular tradition, these suggestive gorges, just 2 m wide and about 30 m long, were opened by San Martino with the strength of his arms to allow the people of Fares to access the high pastures of the Majella more quickly. After walking a few meters, you can see the monastery of San Martino in Valle which an archaeological excavation has recently brought to light. In reality, this remarkable scenario was produced by the erosive and incessant action of the torrential waters coming from the melting of the surrounding snowfields during the Quaternary, in particular during the glaciations. With an evident franapoggio stratification that highlights the oldest terms as you go up, the oldest rocks of the Maiella emerge here, represented by beige-hazelnut platform limestones dating back to the lower Cretaceous. They contain fossil remains of algae and benthic foraminifera. Near the monastery, it is possible to observe an outcrop full of rudists, lamellibranchs who build cliffs now extinct but clearly visible in Maiella on Cima Murelle.

The church is located in the fork between the tratturo L'Aquila-Foggia and the tratturo Centurelle-Montesecco, making it a strategic structure in the period in which transhumance played a fundamental role in the economy of southern Italy.

Parish church of the town, it was built in the 12th century, after the earthquake of 1706, it was built again, however maintaining the 14th century bell tower

Parish Church of the Child Jesus or of Saints Nicholas and Clemente. The parish church, originally dedicated to SS. Nicola and Clemente, was dedicated in 2015 to the Child Jesus, with a Decree of the archbishop mons. Bruno Strong. It is located in Piazza Umberto I, in front of the town hall. The original building dates back to the 16th century. An epigraph on the bell tower attests that the church was built in 1589 in the eighteenth century two windows were added on the facade for more light. The portico, located on the right side, dates back to the 20th century. The facade is rectangular. A tympanum dominates the portal, while a rose window is decorated with some little heads of angels. The portico has six bays with a round arch. The bell tower has three levels marked on the outside by a stringcourse frame. The interior has three naves, one central and two lateral. In the side aisles there are minor altars, with representations of saints. In the right aisle appear, in order, a niche with St. Sebastian, a first modern altar with an effigy of the Divine Mercy (recently set up), which houses the baptismal font, the latter covered by a late Gothic wooden chest dating back to the nineteenth century. Subsequently there is an altar with Our Lady of Sorrows and the dead Christ, then an altar with St. Anthony of Padua and finally a last one with the representation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the left aisle there is, in order, a first altar with the Madonna del Rosario, then an altar with a painting of the Madonna delle Grazie. Subsequently an altar with S. Cesidio, followed by that in honor of S. Giuseppe. Finally there is a niche with S. Gabriele dell'Addolorata. At the back of the church, on the entrance door, there is a mezzanine supported by four columns, which houses a pipe organ built in the 17th century. At the end to the left of the central nave there is a wooden pulpit, with representations of the life of Jesus. The main altar is located at the end of the central nave, located in the center of the presbytery and is illuminated by the light from the dome. Behind the altar is the urn of the Holy Child, with the tabernacle below.

The church of S. Francesco or sanctuary of the Eucharistic Miracle is annexed to the homonymous convent of the Friars Conventual. It contains the famous relics of the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano.