Palena. Glimpses of autumn
2023
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.
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2016
Villalago (AQ) - Hermitage of S. Domenico
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.
2020
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.
2024
Manoppello. Abbey of Santa Maria Arabona
Santa Maria de Arabona is an abbey dating back to the end of the 12th century located in the hamlet of the same name in the municipality of Manoppello (PE), declared a national monument in 1902.
2024
Celano. Church of San Michele Arcangelo
The construction of the Church of San Michele Arcangelo dates back to the 14th century. At the end of the 14th century the Counts of Celano donated it to the congregation of the Celestine monks
2023
Abruzzo, Italy. Spectacular autumnal landscapes
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.
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.
2024
Archaeological site of Alba Fucens
Alba Fucens is a site that arose in the 4th century BC in an elevated and well-fortified position, on approximately 34 hectares at 966 m above sea level, on the slopes of Mount Velino in Abruzzo.
2018
Sulmona (AQ)
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.
2018
Caporciano (AQ) S. Maria di Centurelli
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.
2024
Guardia V. di Notaresco. Abbey of S. Clemente al Vomano
The Abbey of San Clemente al Vomano is a Catholic place of worship in Abruzzo that stands on the top of a small hill, not far from Guardia Vomano di Notaresco, in the province of Teramo.