Villalago (AQ) - Hermitage of S. Domenico

2016

The hermitage of San Domenico is a small church, located in the territory of the municipality of Villalago (AQ), in the Sagittario valley, on the shore of the homonymous Lake of San Domenico. It includes a cave dug into the limestone, in which according to tradition, around the year 1000 the Benedictine monk San Domenico lived. San Domenico came from Sora, and was housed in the Benedictine monastery of San Pietro de Lacu, which has now disappeared; later he also went to nearby Cocullo, where he healed a girl bitten by a snake. At the road he also tamed a wolf, who had kidnapped an infant from the cradle, while his parents were chopping wood in the woods. And the miracle will be reproduced on votive canvases on the porch of the hermitage. The actual hermitage was built around the fifteenth century, when the cult of St. Dominic spread. Before the construction of the dam and the consequent formation of the lake, in 1929, the hermitage had a different exterior, with a mullioned portico and a recessed facade with a large window, and was accessible from a medieval bridge in a serious state of conservation. With the dam, the new stone bridge was built in a fake medieval style and the facade of the hermitage was rebuilt.

You may also like

Alfedena. Church of Saints Peter and Paul

Church of Saints Peter and Paul (13th century), is located in the western part of the town, in Largo Don Filippo Brunetti, is characterized by a Romanesque-inspired façade (13th century), was restored following the damage of the Second World War. The interior of the church is the result of the reconstruction in 1954. The large mosaics on the facade and inside were created by Fausto Conti in the 1950s.

Isola del G. Sasso d’I. San G. dell'Addolorata

The sanctuary of S. Gabriele dell'Addolorata is a sanctuary of the Catholic Church located at the foot of the Gran Sasso d'Italia, in the municipality of Isola del Gran Sasso d'Italia.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Morro D’Oro. Church of SS. Salvatore

At the entrance to the town of Morro D'Oro (Teramo), 210 m above sea level, there is the Church of SS.mo Salvatore. It is also dedicated to St. Nicholas of Bari, patron saint of Morro D'Oro

L'Aquila - Basilica of S. M. di Collemaggio

The basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio is a religious building in L'Aquila, located just outside the city walls, on the hill of the same name. Founded in 1288 at the behest of Pietro da Morrone - crowned pope here with the name of Celestino V on 29 August 1294 - it is considered the highest expression of Abruzzo architecture, as well as the symbol of the city and was declared a national monument in 1902. Since 1327 houses the remains of the pontiff, currently preserved inside the mausoleum of Celestino V, built in 1517 by Girolamo da Vicenza, master of Andrea Palladio. It is the seat of an annual jubilee, the first in history, established with the Bull of Forgiveness of 29 September 1294 and known as Perdonanza Celestiniana; therefore, it is characterized by the presence of a Holy Door on the side facade. The church, which boasts the title of minor basilica together with the fellow citizens San Bernardino and San Giuseppe Artigiano, has been remodeled several times over the centuries mainly due to the damage caused by frequent earthquakes and presents a mixture of different architectural styles. Following the 2009 earthquake, it was subjected to consolidation and restoration works which ended in 2017.

Santa Maria di Basciano. Church of S. M. in Porto Lungo

The Church of S. Maria a Porto Lungo is of notable artistic interest, dating back to the 14th century and, built on an ancient pagan temple, is in Romanesque style.

Panoramas of Abruzzo

Abruzzo is an Italian region located east of Rome, between the Adriatic and the Apennines. The hinterland consists largely 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 walled city, damaged by the earthquake of 2009. The Costa dei Trabocchi, with its sandy coves, takes its name from the traditional fishing piers.

↑Back to Top