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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Alfedena. The Montagna Spaccata lake

The Montagna Spaccata lake is a small artificial lake on the southern borders of Abruzzo. It is located entirely in the province of L'Aquila, in the municipality of Alfedena.

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.

Sulmona (formerly Sulmo, Sulmóne in Abruzzo) is an Italian town of 24 076 inhabitants in the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo. It is the third most populous municipality in the province (behind L'Aquila and Avezzano) and the eleventh in the region. Located in the heart of Abruzzo, close to the Majella National Park, Sulmona is known worldwide for its centuries-old tradition in the production of sugared almonds. It is also the bishopric of the homonymous diocese Sulmona-Valva. Formerly oppidum of the Peligni, later a Roman municipality, in 43 BC. Sulmo was the birthplace of the Latin poet Publio Ovidio Nasone. In the Middle Ages, by the will of Frederick II, it was from 1233 to 1273 the seat of the execution of Abruzzo. It is among the cities decorated with military valor for the war of liberation, awarded the Silver Medal for the sacrifices of its populations and for its activity in the partisan struggle during the Second World War.

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.

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.

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.

The village of Borrello, as also handed down by Benedetto Croce, was a fief of the Borrello family: the Abruzzo philosopher claims to have found a document from the year 1000 which would suggest some lordship of this family already at the end of the 10th century. In fact, the news is also confirmed in the most ancient historical sources, consulted and collected in the eighteenth century also by Antinori for the drafting of his Annali degli Abruzzi, in which the progenitor of the dynasty, a certain Borrello from whom the Castle then took its name and he perpetuated it over the centuries, he would have been a Frankish leader linked to the Counts of the Marsi. Croce, on the other hand, asserts that the family descends from some exponent of the Borel family of French origin.

Barrea and its lake. Glimpses of autumn

Barrea (Varréa in Barreano dialect) is an Italian municipality of 705 inhabitants in the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo. Located in Alto Sangro, it is a tourist resort thanks to the presence of the lake of the same name and the national park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise. Barrea is located in a mountain area belonging to the Alto Sangro basin and Lake Barrea. The inhabited center, located at an altitude of 1,060 m above sea level, occupies a protrusion at the eastern end of the lake enclosed by the steep sides of the Meta mountains to the south and Mount Greco to the north. The lake was created in 1951 by damming the Sangro river and is used for the production of electricity. The Barrea Lake Wetland, managed by the Abruzzo Lazio and Molise National Park Authority, has been on the list of areas covered by the Ramsar Convention since 1976.

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.

Borrello (Burièlle in Abruzzo) is an Italian town of 326 inhabitants in the province of Chieti in Abruzzo. It is part of the mountain community of Medio Sangro. The municipality of Borrello, as also handed down by Benedetto Croce, was a fief of the Borrello family: the Abruzzo philosopher claims to have found a document from the year 1000 that would suggest a certain dominion of this family already at the end of the 18th century. In fact, the news is also confirmed by the most ancient historical sources, consulted and collected in the eighteenth century by Anton Ludovico Antinori for the drafting of his Annali degli Abruzzi, in which the progenitor of the dynasty, a certain Borrello from whom the Castle then took its name and he perpetuated it over the centuries, he would have been a Frankish leader descended from the Counts of the Marsi. Croce, on the other hand, states that the family descends from some exponent of the Borel family of French origin. At the beginning of the 20th century, many of the country's inhabitants emigrated to the United States and northern Europe. After the bombing of the Second World War the city was completely rebuilt.

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