Abruzzo, Italy. Spectacular landscapes
2022
Abruzzo is an Italian region located east of Rome, between the Adriatic and the Apennines. The hinterland is mostly made up of national parks and nature reserves. The region also includes medieval and Renaissance villages perched on the hills. The regional capital, L'Aquila, is a city surrounded by walls, damaged by the earthquake of 2009. The Costa dei Trabocchi, with its sandy coves, takes its name from the traditional fishing jetties.
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2016
The Lake of Scanno (AQ)
Lake Scanno, belonging for three quarters to the municipality of Villalago and for a quarter to that of Scanno, is located in Abruzzo, in the lower province of L'Aquila, between the Marsicani Mountains, in the upper valley of the Sagittario river, which originated for a ancient landslide that broke off from Mount Genzana above, between 12,820 and 3,000 years ago, which blocked the river Tasso.
2023
Pescara. La Nave fountain
One of the best-known and most identifying city monuments, the La Nave fountain was created by Pietro Cascella in 1986 in travertine marble. It was inaugurated on 4 July 1987
2018
L'Aquila - Basilica of San Bernardino
The basilica of San Bernardino is a religious building in L'Aquila, located in the quarter of Santa Maria. It was built, with the adjacent convent, between 1454 and 1472 in honor of San Bernardino da Siena, whose remains are kept inside the mausoleum of the Saint built by Silvestro dell'Aquila. The façade, erected in the following century by Cola dell'Amatrice with Michelangelo's influences, is considered the highest expression of Renaissance architecture in Abruzzo. The interior, in Baroque style, is due to the reconstruction of the building following the earthquake of 1703 by several designers - including certainly Filippo Barigioni, Sebastiano Cipriani and Giovan Battista Contini - and preserves important works of art by Andrea della Robbia, Francesco Bedeschini, Pompeo Cesura, Rinaldo Fiammingo and Donato Teodoro, in addition to the aforementioned Silvestro dell'Aquila, also author of the mausoleum of Maria Pereyra Camponeschi. The carved wooden ceiling decorated with pure gold is the work of Ferdinando Mosca. It was included in the list of national monumental buildings in 1902 and elevated to the rank of minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1946. Due to the earthquake of 2009 which severely damaged the apse and the bell tower, the basilica was subjected to repair and consolidation works and was reopened in 2015.
2023
Palena. Glimpses of autumn
Palena is an Italian municipality of 1,224 inhabitants in the province of Chieti in Abruzzo, and is the seat of the union of the eastern Maiella-Verde Aventino mountain municipalities.
2023
Stiffe Caves, Abruzzo, Italy
The Stiffe caves are a complex of karst caves located near Stiffe, in the territory of the municipality of San Demetrio ne' Vestini (AQ), in Abruzzo, included within the Sirente-Velino regional natural park. Testimony of a unique active resurgence in Italy, made accessible to the public since 1991, today they constitute one of the main naturalistic sites of the L'Aquila area, recording over 40,000 visitors annually. The Stiffe caves represent one of the best-known karst phenomena in central Italy. The complex has been used since the Bronze Age even if archaeological remains have been found inside it dating back to the Neolithic and Eneolithic. The presence of an underground stream that gave rise to the complex led, in 1907 and on the initiative of the Marquis Alfonso Cappelli, to the construction of a hydroelectric plant of which some remains are still visible today near the entrance to the cavities. In 1956, when the plant was dismantled, the first speleological explorations began; after a first visit in 1957, the following year it was the Marche Speleological Group of Ancona that went beyond the first natural siphon. Subsequently, the Roman Speleological Group and, starting from the eighties, the Aquilano Speleological Group continued the first exploration attempts. The speleological excursions were then followed by a process of valorisation of the site which led to the opening of the complex to the public in 1991. In 1994 a mixed group of speleologists from L'Aquila and France managed to access for the first time the unexplored area after the first waterfall while in 1996 the speleology museum named after Vincenzo Rivera was opened. A second extension of the tourist route, up to the current length of about 700 m, was made in 2007 with the opening of the second waterfall to visitors, while the extension of the explored part of the cavity exceeds one kilometre. From 1996 to 2018 the site was managed by the public-private company Progetto Stiffe S.p.A. while it is currently managed directly by the Municipality of San Demetrio ne' Vestini. The 2009 earthquake led to a closure of the caves for safety reasons; the complex was only reopened to the public in 2011.
2022
Civitella del Tronto. The Church of S. M. degli Angeli
Wedged between the alleys of the village, the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Civitella del Tronto is, according to some historical sources, the oldest church in the town.
2023
Pescara. Church of the Sacred Heart
It was built in 1886 in neo-Romanesque style. It has a main façade characterized by brick cladding. The interior has three naves, in neo-Romanesque style.
2023
Lama dei Peligni. Church of S. Nicholas and Clemente
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.
2017
Abruzzo - Gran Sasso of Italy
The Gran Sasso (or Gran Sasso d'Italia) is the highest mountain massif of the continental Apennines, located in the central Apennines, entirely in Abruzzo, as part of the easternmost ridge of the Abruzzo Apennines, on the border between the provinces of L ' Aquila, Teramo and Pescara. It borders to the north with the territories of Fano Adriano, Pietracamela, Isola del Gran Sasso d'Italia, Castelli and Arsita, to the east with the Gorges of Popoli, to the south-west directly with the plain of Assergi, further downstream with L'Aquila , to the south it is limited by Campo Imperatore and downstream by the Piana di Navelli, while to the west-north-west it borders the chain of the Monti della Laga and Lake Campotosto, separated from them by the upper Vomano Valley and the state road 80 of the Gran Sasso d'Italia that crosses it. The Gran Sasso d'Italia is a protected environmental area with the establishment of the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park. It includes the Gran Sasso mountain community and the Campo Imperatore-Piana di Navelli mountain community.
2023
Sulmona. Complex of the Santissima Annunziata.
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.