L'Aquila

2018

L'Aquila (IPA: / ˈlakwila /, pronunciation, formerly Aquila until 1863 and Aquila degli Abruzzi until 1939) is an Italian town of 69 284 inhabitants, capital of the province of the same name and of the Abruzzo region. The city is located in the Abruzzo hinterland on the slope of a hill to the left of the Aterno river, in a predominant position with respect to the Gran Sasso massif, the homonymous basin and the Aterno valley, on an area of 467 km² which make it the ninth largest municipality in Italy. Divided into 59 districts and hamlets, part of its territory is included in the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga national park and reaches over 2,000 meters above sea level.

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P.N.A.L.M. - Part I

The National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise is a national park including for the most part (about 3/4) in the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo and for the remainder in that of Frosinone in Lazio and in that of Isernia in Molise. It was inaugurated on 9 September 1922 in Pescasseroli, the current headquarters and central management of the park, while the body of the same name had already been established on 25 November 1921 with a provisional directorate. Its establishment took place officially with the Royal decree-law of 11 January 1923.

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.

Spectacular autumnal landscapes. Foliage

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.

L'Aquila. Church of Santa Maria del Suffragio - 2019

Built starting in 1713 for the victims of the earthquake of 1703, it is the symbol of the eighteenth-century reconstruction of the city and represents the maximum expression of the religious architecture of L'Aquila in the eighteenth century.

Scanno. The Church of San Rocco

The Church of San Rocco, known as the Madonna del Carmine is located in Scanno. It is also called the Madonna del Carmine, because since 1784 it has been the seat of a confraternity of the same name

Coppito (AQ) - Church of San Pietro Apostolo

Sulmona. Church of San Filippo Neri

The construction of the church and oratory of San Filippo Neri began in the mid-17th century and was completed in 1677. However, in the beginning the congregation was based - together with that of the Jesuit Fathers - in the church of Sant'Ignazio , located in Piazza XX Settembre and no longer existing today; only later did it move to Piazza Maggiore - the current Piazza Garibaldi - within the lively and populous Borgo Pacentrano. The earthquake of 1706 forced a reconstruction of the complex, which Baron Giambattista Mazara magnanimously took charge of between 1785 and 1794, deserving the commemorative plaque placed on the right wall of the church; the adjoining convent had to assume considerable decorum, so much so that in 1796 it was even able to host King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon on a visit to the city. In 1799, with the suppression of the Filipino order, the Fathers left the city and the sacred building, abandoned and reduced to profane use, was transformed into an oven and also used for military purposes. Likewise, the oratory, confiscated by the Royal Property, had various uses and today is the headquarters of the Command of the Guardia di Finanza. Only in 1920 did the church regain its religious use, becoming the seat of the parish of Sant'Agata. From here the traditional demonstration of the Madonna fleeing into the square begins on Easter morning, the joyful conclusion of Holy Week in Sulmona.

Fara San Martino, Chieti. San Martino in Valle Abbey

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.

Isola del Gran S. The church of S Giovanni ad Insulam

The church of San Giovanni ad Insulam, also known as the church of San Giovanni al Mavone, stands isolated on a small hill that flanks the Mavone river in the valley of the same name.

Fara San Martino. The Gorges of San Martino

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.

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