to clients, who will book within April 15! *

* The offer is not valid for reservations in the period from 08/08 to 21/08
The discount can’t be added with other offers.

Small strengthened towns, built in defence to dangers, full of small streets, castled on rocks, with beautiful ancient and functional houses. Mysterious abbeys, abandoned since a long time, holders of the still throbbing mystical heart of the Region and of its attachment to religion. Heremitages, which got lost in holds valleys and tall mountains, watchers of  memoriesof men, who searched God in nature and bent their knees in front of bad weather and ate its fruits in a lovefull bond.

A trip on the everlasting enchant of Abruzzi, that holds perfume of Antiquity and the colours of flowing time.

Anversa degli Abruzzi

Anversa degli Abruzzi, a suburb of ancient origins, lies on the “Mouth” of the natural fascinating and tortuos route of the Gole del Sagittario and connects the Conca Peligna to the suburbs of Scanno and Villalago. Under the town rise the waters of Cavuto, a place of great naturalistic reliev, valorized by the protected Oasis of WWF. A “scarying and beautiful” route, a canyon that was created by the everlasting actionof the water onto a crowd of calcareous rocks’ layers, an ancient sea-ground,which was disappearing 200 millions of years ago. The ancient medieval suburb Anversa is sorrounded by a bounce of houses, built on hangs, named “Houses of the Lombardi”. The alleys and underpasses with arcs are very fascinating. We want to begin the visit of the town with the Church St. Maria delle Grazie, built in XVI Century, which facade is enriched by a Renaissance Portal in calcareous stone and a imposing rose window. The inside preserves ancient altars with grotesque incisions, a Statue of St. Rocco in coloured terracotta, made by a local craftsman, a tabernacle in gilded wood by Maestro De Picchi. On the first altar there is a reproduction of the magnificent Trittico of Anversa. St. Marcello’s Church, devoted to the patron since the XI century, exposes with boldness on its facade an elegan late-gothik portal with fanciful graven ornamental, anthropomorphous, vegetables, animal motives, embellished by a rare caltrop. The Norman Castle, built in XII Century, has been for years a strategic place for the sighting of invaders into the southern part of the Valle Peligna. Today the ancient tower still overhangs the underlying inhabitated area. The castle was for a long time Lords of Sandro’s home and hosted many artists and intellectuals. In front of the citadel of Anversa, right from the Gole, there is the old indipendent Feud of Castrovalva and its ancient monuments of the XI century: you come into the old Castrum without vestigias through an ogival portal. You have to visit: the little Church of St. Michele Arcangelo, city’s patron, built on the top of Mount St. Angelo andthe Parrocchiale St. Maria della Neve. The two suburbs are the examples of ridge installation, which are almost wholly preserved. Since the Renaissance there are shops and job-places of potters and teachers of embossed ceramics.

Bugnara

In the silence of atmospheres loaded of mysticisme, there is, between the bare and stately Gole del Sagittario, a suburb of ancient origins, Bugnara

Abruzzo is the earth voted to nature, not only rich of bears and chamois, walls of rock and woods, protected in magnificent reserves, but also of placid sandy shores. From the tollgate in South Pescara on the A14 You go to Ripa Teatina, rich of cultivations and witness of a history which goes to the prehistoric, Roman and tall medieval eve attested by numerous archaeological recoveries. Taste the good Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, wine of an intense red color, at the Tenuta of Valletta Mezzanotte; savory the timballini of scrippelle, the lamb with cheese and eggs of the restaurant La Casa di Filippo.
Go on and reach Tollo, a suburb famous for the numerous prehistoric finds and dedicate Roman bronze-statues. Stop at the Cantina Sociale Tollo to taste its wine.
To this point go to Lanciano, that preserve still today a beautiful fortifications, the cathedral of Santa Maria al Ponte, wholly reconstructed in the second half of XVII century. Taste the bocconotto, a typical biskuit, soft and greedy, and take a turn through the confectioneries of the historical center, and try the tastes of the fish cooking in the restaurant Corona di Ferro. Leave Lanciano for the SS 652 that goes up the river Sangro goes up to the bifurcation to Archi, where You’ll rest at the restaurant Zappacosta, well known for the traditional cooking and the extraordinary cakes.

The itinerary continues touching Vasto: visit the civic Museum, the thirteenth-century castle, the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, rebuilt at the end of the XVIII century. We signal the Hostaria del Pavone, where You can taste another typical food of the cooking of Abruzzo: the Scapece, fried little fishes, preserved pesciolini with vinegar and saffron, soups of see fruits, full squids, stuffed Sardinians and brodetto alla vastese. From the national way SS 16, in direction north, You will reach the last goal of Your trip on the discovery of the tastes of Abruzzo: Ortona, production place of the annoia, traditional meat of th region, made of tripe and rose of pig, spicy pepper, seeds of fennel, salt, cornstarch, peels and juice of orange, all bagged in gut. To mention and visit the beautiful church of S. Caterina, founded in 900, the suggestive Palazzo Farnese and an interesting archaeological museum, that preserves prehistorical local finds of Italic and Roman age.
A walk among the lanes of the center is the pretext for a standstill inside a fresh and happy inn as the Cantina Aragonese, La Tavernetta degli Ulivi or the Azienda Agricola Sarchese Dora, which is famous for the handcraft production of an optim Trebbiano Abruzzo DOC and a very remarkable Pietrosa Chardonnay. From Ortona reach the tollgate of the highway again and set the end to Your excursion.

Roseto - Torano

The coastof Abruzzo, with its beaches of gilded sand and the wild adriatic sea, decides to disclose its mysteries in an impassioning itinerary, that discloses its tacit winter shine and the wonder of the sea of Abruzzo, the gastronomy, the oil, the wine.
Start from Roseto degli Abruzzi, one of the more crowded bathing destinations in summer, because of the numerous demonstrations that it organizes, every year, for tourists. Interesting the prestigious Wine firms, Di Nicola, Scialletti and Contucci Ponno, that insert the town among the principals centers for the production of excellent DOC wines in Abruzzo.

On the SS16, in direction north, You’ll come to Giulianova, bathing town with a flourishing touristic dock as fulcrum, and center of one of the most beautiful Renaissance churches of Abruzzo, the Cathedral of St. Flaviano and the famous wine cellar Di Giovanpietro.

Crossing the coast You’ll meet Alba Adriatica, with its ample silver beach and from here, leave the National-Way to aim the heart of the hills of Teramo and meet Colonnella, the wine city, famous for the homonym wine cellar and the prestigious Cantina Lepore.
We advise to stop for a turn among the lanes of the beautiful historical center to admire the Tower of the clock, built in the XIV century. In the Azienda Agrituristica Zenobi You can taste the good traditional cooking, strong of typical dishes of the Region, as the vincisgrassi, the olives ascolane in the mixed fry, the ‘ngrecciata, the coratella of lamb, the fegatini of chicken with the eggs.

To west, You’ll meet the medieval town of Controguerra, a splendid foreshortening among the rivers Tronto and Vibrata. We recommend a standstill at the restaurant La Credenza, excellent meals both for the use of select ingredients and for the method of traditional preparation. Continue toward south in direction Nereto, after a standstill in Corropoli, for its archaeological recoveries and the wines of the Azienda Vitinicola Marcocelli.

At around 7 km from Nereto, You’ll come to Torano Nuovo, last goal of the eno-gastronical trip, ancient town, center of the important firm vitivinicola Pepe, known for the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Rosso DOC.
We recommend the restaurant-pizzeria La Sosta, where the cooking of Teramo introduces particular characteristics: to taste the mazzarelle, interiora of lamb, cut thin, wound in leaves of endive with garlic, spicy pepper and parsley, tied up with budelline and crushes with lard and a spoon of wine.

*******************************************************************************

Wine Firms in Abruzzo

*******************************************************************************

• Azienda Agricola Barone Cornacchia: C.da Torri, 64010 Torano Nuovo (TE)

The Agricultural firm countersignes its-self for the half-biological cultivation of the grapevines, that perfectly approaches to the family tradition, voted to the full respect of nature. The grounds, a feud granted by the King of Naples jointly to the noble title to the Family Cornacchia in the XVI century, are mostly calcareous and sunny, to an altitude of 240 mt s.l.m. and to ca. 15 Km. from the coast. The family devotes its-self with passion to the workmanship of the grapevine, creating everytime sincere and genuine wines, proper both for local consumption and to international marketing. The wines, bottled in chestnut tree washed with water and salt to cancel its bitterish residual, are the fruit of a great passion for the earth and the pleasure of sharping tastes.

The Showcase of Wines:

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo DOC, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Cerasuolo DOC, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC Vigna le Coste, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC Poggio Varano, Controguerra DOC Villa Torri, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG Vizzaro.

******************************************************************************

• Azienda Agricola Cantine Ferlinga: C.da Madonna della Carità, 64010 Ancarano (TE)

The centenary Family firm, sinks the roots of its vineyards, ulivs and fields of wheat into the 120 hectares of the clayey ground of the hills of the Valley of the Tronto, slowly degrading toward the coast and grazed by the sweet sea-breeze. The Agricultural firm throws back the consumption basics and proceeds to a handicraft workmanship that gives to the wines the ”strong and tender” taste of the hinterland of Abruzzo, besides to yield and floral tones.

The Showcase of Wines:

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Poggio delle Ginestre DOC, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Carlo Magno Colline Teramane DOC, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Cerasuolo DOC, Controguerra DOC, Merlot DOC, Chianti DOCG, Garda Classico Groppello DOC, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo DOC, Pinot Grigio Veneto IGT, Lugana DOC.

*******************************************************************************

• Azienda Agricola Centorame Anna Maria: via delle Fornaci 3, 64032 Atri (TE)

Wines of depth character and personality, autochtonous vines sharpened in oak strokes in full respect of the nature, produced by the Family Vannucci in the hinterland of Atri. A family firm that chooses the philosophy of valorizing the local tastes, testimony and expression of the territory and the vines of Abruzzo connecting modern techniques to the full and reverential observance of natural laws.

The Showcase of Wines:

Castellum Vetus Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, Castellum Vetus Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Colline Teramane, S.Michele Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, S.Michele Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

*******************************************************************************

• Azienda Agricola Ciccio Zaccagnigni: C.da Pozzo, 65020 Bolognano (PE)

The Showcase of Wines:

White Wines - Daniele Controguerra DOC, Ciafrè Controguerra DOC, Costalupo Controguerra DOC, Lorè Vino Muffato, Nicolino Vino Frizzante

Rosè Wines - Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Cerasuolo DOC Campirosa

Red Wines - Ilico Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC, Pieluni Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC Riserva, Sacrì Controguerra DOC Novello, Zanna Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC Riserva, Nicò Controguerra DOC Passito, Riparosso Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC, Lumen Controguerra DOC Riserva

Champagne - Illuminati Brut

*******************************************************************************

In Pescara, native town of the poet, you can visit his native house, today turned to Museum, and the Governement Building, which contains the grandiose painting named “Iorio’s Daughter”, masterpiece by the artist Francesco Michetti, from which the Prophet has drawn the inspiration for his homonym theatrical work.

Continuing toward Francavilla, you cross D’Annunzio’s Pine Forest, only a few footsteps from the waters of the Adriatic Sea, ploughed by the “paranze”, and not far away from the beach once crossed by the flocks in their migrations, described into the verses of the poem “September”.

In Francavilla a Mare you an see Michetti’s Convent, where the Poet sheltered during the writing of the “Pleasure” and the Town hall, in which “The Cripples’ Street” is preserved, another important painting by Michetti, inspired by “The Triumph of Dead” of D’Annunzio.

  In Miglianico, in Saint Michael Arcangelo Church there’s  sixteenth-century fresko named “Madonna between two Saints”, which inspired the poet during the composition of “Le Novelle della Pescara”. The same church entertains the sculpture of Pantaleone, city’s patron, whose feast ispired the poet for homonym work.

Return to the cost and go South in direction of San Vito Chietino, where Dannunzio lived a short but intense love-story with Barbara Leoni, that ispired the “Triumph of Death”, played in one of the coast inlets between St. Vito and Fossacesia, where rises the Abbey of St. Giovanni in Venus, that overhangs the sea from the top of a hill. In Casalbordino the streets of the Prophet and Michetti meet again: “The Triumph of Death” and the painting “Cripples’ street” recall the pilgrimage from 09th till 11th June to the Madonna of the Miracles’s Sanctuary. The pagan feast of the St. Zopito’s Ox in Loreto Aprutino, that develops still today every 22th and 23th May, described in the “Virgo Anna” and in the “Le Novelle della Pescara”, is very important. Far away from the coast, in Anversa, there are the “Throats of the Sagittarius” that serve as background to theatrical work ”The Torch under the Moggio” and the suggestive “Caves of the Breaker” in the natural reserve of Fara St. Martin, which D’Annunzio chose for the II Act of “Iorio’s Daughter”.

  MIGLIANICO GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB

Circle Category: Member of Federgolf

Adress: Contrada Cerreto 58 - 66010 Miglianico (CH)

Phone number: 0871 / 950566

Fax: 0871 / 950363

e-mail: miglianicogolf@libero.it

web-site: www.miglianicogolf.it

President: Stefano Ferri - Vicepresident: Blasetti Giambattista

Director: Anna Rita Marchesani - Sekretary: Marchesani, Di Felice

Teacher: Igor Fantini - Green Keeper: De Luca Mauro

Responsible of juvenil activity: Desiderio Claudio

Track: 18 holes, CR  70.4 SR 125

Equipments: Driving range, putting & pitching green, knapsacks rental, manual and voter carts rental, sweater-karts rental, knapsacks deposit and locker .

Services: cafe, swimming-pool, pro-shop, beauty center.

Season: all year through - currently in vacation up to 27th January.

Day of Closing: monday

Altitude: mt. 65 s.l.m.

  AS TO REACH IT:

Highway A14, out Pescara South-Francavilla. At the tollgate turn immediately left and at the roundling turn right and follow the signs for Miglianico. The Circle lies only 3 Km from this point.

The Strukture, entirely managed by the Commune of Miglianico, stands in Cerreto di Miglianico, an equidstant place both from Pescara and Chieti, in a strategic position in the touristic itineraries of Abruzzo.

The Circle is devided into club-houses, cafe, restaurant, swimming pool and a  field with 18 holes, planned by Ronald Kirby, one of the most famous American architects. From winter months till late spring You can perceive by the field the top of the Majella full of snow. The moderate clima and the benefits of sea proximity, allow to golf lovers to the sport the whole year through.

The technical characteristics make this run charming: the thick vegetation, the obstacles of water and the out-limits hock beginners and professionals. The panoramic sight allows to glimpse a heterogeneous scenery, that extends itself from the baeches of the adriatic coast up to the woods and to the hermitages set in the rock, and gives suggestive sights of the characteristic landscape of the mother mountain of Abruzzo.

  MEMBERSHIP TIKETS:

Federal Club-tiket Year 2007

- Adult members Euro 90,00 (Euro 60,00 Tiket + Euro 30,00 Sporting Association)

- Young members Euro 22,00 (born after the 1st January 1988)

  PRO-SHOP:

At the inside of the Circle there is a Pro-shop for players. “Teeshot Golf” is managed by Sir Pietro Bruni who, takes not only care of the sale, but furnishes a punctual and reliable service of reparation and maintenance of equipments, too. “Teeshot Golf” has a rich assortment of equipments and attire of the best brands, able to satisfy the expectations of players of any level. You c an also purchase gadgets dedicated to “Mglianico Golf & Country Club” (t-shirts, bonnets and sweater-balls).

  THE COMPETITIONS:

- 04/02/2007 World Carribean Golf Challenge - 1^ cover - 18 holes stb, 3 categories

- 18/02/2007  World Carribean Golf Challenge - 2^ cover - 18 holes stb, 3 categories

- 25/02/2007 Carnival Cup - Rules apart

- 16/03/2007 Italian Assotiation of Sweater-Player - Rules apart

- 25/03/2007 World Carribean Golf Challenge - 3^ cover - 18 holese stb, 3 categories

- 01/04/2007 Green Pass Tour - Rules apart

- 09/04/2007 Corporale Day - Rules apart 

- 15/04/2007 - 18 holes sbt, 3 categories

OUTSKIRTS

  We advise to visit Guardiagrele, an attractive village characterized by millennial towers, churches, monasteries and a myriad of handicraft shops that animate the medieval suburb: ledger-blacksmiths that beat on the forge, scalpellini that model the white stone of the Majella. Guardiagrele is also famous for its confectioneries, where it’s possible to taste the “sises of nuns”, pandispagna stuffed with cream, one of the local sweets. All around there’s the extraordinary landscape of the Natural Park of the Majella, to patrol penetrating in the Wood of the Valley and following the ancient road of the Mills, actually to reach the Falls of St. Giovanni. To the lovers of the nature we recommend a trip along the path that from Plain of the Apples handed to the Valley of the Nuns.

In amazing geographical position, set in the Teramo slope of the Gran Sasso, the sanctuary of St. Gabriele is an oasis where the imposing montanious nature meets humility of religious life, and green woods fill the fervent souls of the pilgrims who crow the 2 basilicas of town with peace.

The First Basilica, set in 1216, near a quuiosque dedicated to the Annunziata, restaured in 1590 and then enriched with the beautiful dome and facade of refined polycromia of the XX century. The ancient church, in ancient gothic style, entertains, under the altar of the chappel an urn in gilded bronze, which contains the rests of the saint in a suggestive metallic statue, around which numerous benches welcome the the pilgrims during their prayers and contemplation. In the Basilika there are many freskos, from the painter Ugo Scaramucci, which represent the saint’s life and join his devotion to Immacolata.

  The New Sanctuary, inaugurated in 1985 by Pope John Paul II, was projected in Sixties by the scholl Giò Ponti in Milan, its execution job were coordinated by the engineer Rino Rossi of Bologna and completed by the architect Eugenio Abruzzini of Rome. Suggestive mosaics, bronzes and windows are the artwork of the Ugolino of Belluno. An imposing building, which can host crows of 12000 people, born thank to the collaboration of the greatest artist come from whole Italy. The New Sanctuary, whose shape reminds a big ship, symbol of the walking church, extends its arms to the 4 cardinal points. The Basilika is devided into Presbiterio Maggiore, Aura Feriale and ample matronea, modern chappels, and congress rooms and exposition rooms. Enriched by many mosaics and polycrome granits and white marmors, the church joins esthetic taste and functionality with the purpose to marry “tourst routes” and “soul ascensions”.

Sanctuary of Loreto

The sanctuary’s history begins in XIII century, with the arrival of Mary of Nazareth’s house. The precious relic has been brought to Italy after the fall of the reign of the Crociati into the Holy Land and modern studies of stones and grafittis, purifieing tradition of legendary elements and confirm authenticity of the Holy House.

  The Sanctuary of Loreto is for centuries one of the most important pilgrim places in catholic world, visited by many popes and over 200 saints, and every year by the nomerous pilgrims who crow its streets.

The Holy House in its orginal shape is composed by only three walls, because the one where today stays the altar was onto the cave’s mouth in Nazareth. The external stones were refined with natabean technic and there are many graffity of Jewish-Christian eve.

The origin of the on wood painted crucifix, over the Angel-window, of the end of the XIII century, is uncertain: the supporters of the first thesis aasigns it to the Spoleto-culture, others wants it to have been realized by Giunta Pisano. The Madonna’s Statue, graven into the wood of a cedar of Libanon, replaces since 1922 the native one which went lost in a fire of 1921. Modeled by Enrico Quattrini and painted by Leopoldo Celani, the statue is covered by the Dalmatica Cloth, following tradition. A marmoreal covering, masterpiece of the Loreto-Art, wanted by Pope Giulio II, drawn by the great architect Donato Bramante and realized by Andrea Sansovino guards the poor House of Nazareth. The niches are enriched by statues of Sybilles and Prophets.

The intern of the Baslika is catachterized by the Dome realized by the artists Giuliano da Maiano and Giuliano da Sangallo. It’s been painted in the XVII century by Pomarancio and restaured at the beginning of the XX century by Cesare Maccari. The Church hosts the Chappel of the Crucifix, graven on wood and given by a brotherhood in the XVIII century; the French Chappel or the Chappel of the Sacrament decorated and painted with the offers of the french catholics; the slavic Chappel or Chappel of Saints Cirillo and Metodio decorated thanks to the contribution of the Croatians, whose trittico was made by Stanislao de Witten; the Chappel of the Assunta or American Chappel, decored with the offers of the american believers of english language of initiative of the Universal Congregation and painted with the imaginary of the Virgo and the history of Human Flight, from Icarus to Leonardo Da Vinci; the Chapel of the Choir or German Chappel, made by Ludwig Seitz for the VI centenary of the Traslazione, with the offers of the German people; the Chappel of the Sacred Heart or Polish Chappel decorated by Arturo Gatti with scenes of polish tradition thanks to the offers of the people; the Chappel of the Dukes of Urbino Guidobaldo II and Francis Maria of the Oak; the Cappel of St. Joseph or Spanish Chappel; the Chappel of Switzerland or of the holy Gioacchino and Ann, with the paintings of Swiss Saints and of the infancy and family life of Maria. Into the two side aisles of the Basilika there are twelve chappels, opened in XVI century by the artist Bramante and later embellished from eighteen-century shovels in mosaic.

The Sacresty of St. Giovanni del Signorelli guards the valuable frescos that represent eight musician center in the dome, the four Evangelist intercaleted by the four Doctors of the Church, five couples of Apostles and the St.Thomas’ unbelieverance with the conversion of Saulus. The St. Marc’s Sacresty, realized by Merlozzo da Forlì, draws onto the dome four angels who bring the symbols of Passion and four Prophets.

The Treasure’s room, realized by Pomarancio, is one of the masterpieces of Roman Manierism, wanted by Pope Clemente VIII, to host the great heap of dedcated gifts left by pilgrims of any social extraction. The treasure was first spoiled by Napoleon, then by thieves in the XX century.

The Square in front of the Basilika s embellished by an artistic fountain in its middle and by a bell-tower drown by Vanvitelli, author of the famous Palace of Caserta, on its left, which entertains eight bells. The Basilika is an abridged edition of late-Gothic and late-Renassaince style. The three bronze portals on the facade were made thanks to an idea of Cardinal Antonio Maria Gallo, in sight of the Jubilee of year 1600. Worked in the foundry Recanati and recently restored from the firm Moggi, the three doors represent biblical subjects to spiritually accompany the pilgrim to the contemplation of the mistery of reincarnation.

On the left side of the church square you perceive the statue devoted to St. Sisto V. In front of the facade of the Basilika there is the Apostolic Building, on two floors, commissioned by Giulio II to Donato Bramante.

To south of the square raises the Illirian Building, a decent construction in tile by Giuseppe Marini, that in the past hosted the Jesuits and and young people coming from Illiria, today is a hostel for pilgrims and trains with sick people.

Manoppello

Manoppello, a small town that lies the Majella to feet, entertains, forgotten for 400 years, the ”Veronica“, the veil on which, as the tradition tells, the face of Christ has been engraved. The cloth, anciently preserved on St.Peter, has been examined by the Jesuit and historian of the art Pfeiffer, who’s sure to have identified the original Relic. The Veronica, a veil of cm 17 x 24 cm is guarded in the Church of the Monastery of the Frati Cappuccini in the abruzzain suburb of Manoppello.

Lanciano

For twelve centuries, Lanciano preserved the first and more important “Eucaristic Miracle” of the Catholic church. Such a prodigy happened toward the half of the VIII century d.C., in the Church of S. Legonziano, because of the doubt of a basilian monk of the real presence of Jesus in the eucarestia. During the celebration, after the consecration, the wafer became alive blood clotting itself in 5 irregular and different globules for form and greatness. The flesh-wafer has the greatness of the great wafer today in use in the Latin church, it is light brown and it becomes all rosy, if observed in transparency. Blood has coagulated, of earth color, extending to the yellow-ochre. The Flesh from 1713 is preserved in an artistic silver Ostensory, elegantly chiseled, of Neapolitan school. The Blood is contained in a rich and ancient cruet of Rocca-crystal. The Sanctuary is currently managed by the Frati Conventuali Minori of the Church of San Francesco.

Celestino V in Collemaggio

Back from Lione, where he got the acceptance of the order of the Brothers of the Saint Spirit, Fra’ Pietro da Morrone, in the first months of the year 1275, passes the night in L’Aquila. Legends tell that, in dream, the Virgo Maria commanded him to erect for her a Basilica on the Hill of May. The construction, that constituted a social novelty in a city of recent origins to that time, was long and complex and the church, although completed, has benn consecrated only in 1288 and and the construction of the monastery was still in progress, when Fra’ Pietro da Morrone was crowned pontiff in 1294. In that occasion Celestino V founded the Perdonanza, it means the remission in front of God of the temporal punishment of sins, tied up to particular religious and penitential conditions. The act of the Perdonanza, since then repeats every year from the evening of August 28th to the sunset of 29th, is written in a bead preserved in the town center, which constitutes for the city administrators the occasion to give life to a solemn procession that, departing from Piazza Palazzo, comes up to Collemaggio.

Cocullo

The Feast dedicated to St. Domenico Abate, that’s hold in Cocullo (L’Aquila) on the first Thursdays of May, is known all over the world.
The presence of the snakes gives the fest in honour of the patron saint an aspect between suggestion and devotion.

The ceremony is managed by the lay Brotherhood of St. Domenico and reaches the principal moment with the arrival of the pilgrimage. Every year, on August 21th, the people of Fornelli go in front of the hermitage of St. Domenico Abate near Villalago, repeating a rite, that’s already encoded since the sixteenth century, as attests a documentation of file. The pilgrimage of Fornelli, develops afoot following the line of the Tratturo Magno; and’ organized by the Saint Congregation of St. Domenico.
The departure is characterized by a very suggestive ceremonial: all the pilgrims (around two hundred) wear the scapular one of St. Domenico and supporting themselves on the penitential baton, they set out from Saint Maria a Casale, a small rural church, where a hermit still resides, reciting and singing traditional hymns. All happens into the light of torches, while the pilgrims, preceded by the crucifix and by a little boy that plays a small bell, sing the litanies of the saints.
Of great emotional impact is the arrival to the hermitage of Villalago, where the pilgrims, after having crossed afoot almost eighty kilometers, enter crawling on the knees to the greatest altar, where they kiss the stone.
With great solemnity, the procession goes up to the suburb, where the pilgrims are welcomed by the members of the Brotherhood of Villalago, dressed in festive suit too and bringing the standard and the astile cross.

Ortona - The Cathedral of St. Thomas

Abruzzo boasts many ancient sanctuaries, whose presence constitutes a point of reference of the local devotion. A special mention is up to the big cathedral of Ortona that boasts the privilege to preserve the bones of St. Thomas Apostle, arrived September 6th 1258 as loot of war,  conquered by the captain Leone degli Acciaiuoli in the looting of the island of Scio. Then, the Cathedral had increased so much to become one of the most famous Gothic monuments of the region and was partly ruined under the terrible bombardment that hit Ortona in 1943. From the ancient shines sill stay the rich portal of Nicola Mancino (1311) the ancient door on the left side, the famous big bell of 1588, a gothic Pity of the XV century. The bare St. Thomas are preserved in the crypt, into a graven sarcophagus (VI century). Ortona devotes two feasts to the apostle: one September 6th and another, greater, of the Pardon, the Ith Sunday of May, to which is tied up the privilege of the complete indulgence. In that occasion, solemnized by the magnificent historical Procession of the Keys, Thousand of pilgrims come to Ortona.

Bucchianico - St. Camillo de Lellis

Tales tell that, when he was young Camillo de Lellis had an imposing stature and gait that siuted well to a man trained to the military life. He was born in Bucchianico the 25th May 1550 from Camilla Caselli, an aristocrat, already ahead in the years, and from Giovanni, captain on service of the D’Avalos in the Frank-Spanish war, after the death of his mother, when he was still a teen-ager, he followed his father in the various enlistments. In 1570 he wanted to participate in the crusade against the Turks announced from Venice, but after the death of his father he abdicated the idea. Meanwhile a wound to the ankle made its state of health more and more precarious and the young boy asked for help into the hospital of St. Giacomo of the Incurable in Rome, where he stood for a few time as attendant.
Taken back the military life he was to sold of the Venetians and the Spaniards. You tell that to the epoch it had a quarrelsome character and a great passion for game, and that one day in Naples he lost both weapons and mantle. In memory of that episode, later, on the place where the fact happened, a tabernacle was erected and mothers went there for estranging their children from the vice of bets. After that, he made humble works in the Franciscan convent of Manfredonia and he wanted to take the orders in the Convent of Trivento but the sore on his ankle and this thing forced him to mend for a second time to the Incurable of Rome.
Recovered, he remained in the hospitalas a valet before and then of administrator up to 1582. In this period St. Filippo Neri knew became his confessor.
Struck by the state of miserable and of abandonment that often accompanies the sufferings of sick people he decided, with five companions, to devote himself to their material and spiritual assistance. He was ordered priest the 26th May 1583 and a few months later he gave origin to the order of the Clergymen Regular Ministers of the Patients approved by Sisto V on March 18th 1586. Soon, while St. Camillo de Lellis lent his work in Saint Spirit of Sassia, ancient Roman house of the Hospital-ones, its order spread in whole Italy.
In 1607, weakened by illnesses, he left the direction of the Company but hold on to serve the poor and the sick men up to the death, that gathered him on July 14th 1614 in the oratory of the Maddalena. He was buried in Rome and canonized in 1746. In Bucchianico you revere the relic of its heart.

A verse of the XV century, the Bellum Braccianum Aquilae Gestum, reporting to this prestigious rising, plays: “And here lies a source with admirable waters, in fact all streams meet into the mountains in the same place. It appears on the surface from a vast mountain crack  in the place called Stiffe. This course of water corroded so steep rocks for such a long time that the fall of the waters produces a terrible sound.”

Open, all year through, from 10.00 A.M. ’till 01.00 P.M and from 3.00 P.M. to 6.00 P.M, with the chance to have a guide. You can reach the Caves of Stiffe from Pescara with the highway A 25 (Bussi), and going to Navelli, Fork San Pio delle Camere, Prata d’Ansdonia, and at last San Demetrio De’ Vestini.

  The Caves of Frasassi, with theirs 30 km of extension that lie on 8 different geologic levels, theirs suggestive and silent landscape of stalactites and stalagmites ( the “Giants”, the “Camel”, the “Dromedary”, the “Bear”, the “Little Lady”, “Damocle’s Sword”, the “Slce of Bacon”, the “Slice of Lard”, the “Obelisk”, the “Reeds of Organ”, that play if stroke, the “Niagara Falls”, the “Caste of the Witches”), lances of alabaster, litle dark lakes of crystalline water, represent one of the most suggestive underground routes of Europe. The cave lies into the Commune of Genga, Province Ancona, is the heart of the natural park of the Red Troath and Frasassi. The discoverage of the Caves, the Cave of the River and the Cave of the Big Wind, beging the 28 June 1948 from the Speolocic Group of Ancona. Further to the Abyss Ancona, there are other famous places: the”Room 200″, a corridor of 200 meters, the “Room of the little Candles”, a tear filled with an endless serie of small cylindrical stalagmites, the “White Room” where innumerable laers of pure calcite cover the walls giving a refined alabaster tone, the “Bear’s Room”, that hosts in its middle a stone which seems the statue of a bear, of cause of the tousand year’s erosion of water, the “infinity Room”, whose name comes from the first explorers, who lost orientation in its labyrint. The carsuc cave is visited from 10 million visitors a year, that can choose between a turistic route and with reservation, a speleological route with the whole forniture.

  The Natural Park and the red Troath of Frasassi, is not only the biggest protected area of Marche, with a treasure of geological atractivness, a rich flora with many forests, and a rising fauna, but also the regn of important monuments and villages ( the medieval suburb of Genga, the neoclassical Temple of Valadier, the Hermitage of St. Mary infra Saxa, that rises out living stones, the romanic and suggestive Abbey of St. Vittore alle Chiuse and the augustean Bridge of St. Vittore.

  The park is the ideal Habitat for Trekking-, mountain byke- and free climbing lovers and hosts the Thermes of St. Vittore.

St. Augustine’s Church: it was originally connected withthe Augustinian monastery whose foundation dates back to the end of the XV century. The inside of the Church is with a single asle and the wooden altars are in Baroque style. The polycrome stattue of the Madonna with the INfant Jasus deserves to be mentioned, as it is typical of the iconography of Abruzzo. But the most valuable work is by all means the great painting by Mattia Preti (1613 - 1699), wich represents St.Augustine’s Baptism. The picture is for the present at the National Museum in L’Aquila, where it is being restored.

Our Lady of Mercy’s Church: it was built in 1348 in honour of the Virgin of Mercy who preserved the town from a terrible pestilence. The single aisle is devided into two cross-vaulted spans and connected with the spacious apse. Parts of the frescos are completely damaged because of the negligence of men; a careful restoration, however, has put back the remainder into its original chromatic splendour.

The Watchtower: it was built in 1881 above that of the draw-bridge and of which it has kept some traces in the lower part the tower is characterized by four pointed arches.

The Archeological Site - Villa of Roman Epoch: it’s among the most ancient archaelogic remains. IN this area, the Roman Villa is worth remembering. It is situated next to the cross-roads to Tortoreto Alto, in Muracche town district. The villa, which goes back to the pre-imperial period, has been recently discovered.

Town Building: It was built on the XVIII century, De Fabritiis Family owns it, and today it hosts the Commune of Tortoreto. 1914 it became concentration camp for Jewish prisoners. After the war it bacame the center of local policemen and from 1979 center of the Commune of Tortoreto.

The Fortellezza with the wonderful sight: If you leave the suburb and go east, you’ll arrive to a natural terrace, once upon a time a military outpost, that leans on the adriatic coast, wher you can gather an exciting panorama: you can embrace witha look the whole coas line from Tronto to Tordino river, everything framed by the mighty montanious background.

Assumed Lady’s Church: Pretty private church, set in 1839 by De Fabritiis Family. You can see it, while you walk along via Carducci, turning into via Giovanni XXIII, to go to the new church.

Springs of Vascello: When you go down the northern slope of Tortoreto Alto hill, you’ll find the springs of the Vascello Valley. It a zone rich in water-polls, named Fontanelle, and there was the ancient fountain with washtable. The cave continue its route and arrives to the sea.

The Siren: Realized in bronze in 1982, on the artistic foundry Battaglia in Milan, on a sketch of the artist Gabriella Martini from Tortoreto. It was initially situated on a mountain of rocks in via Trieste and after a few years removed. In 2003 a fountain has been realized, to the beginning of the seaside, for a best and definitive setup of the statue.

Monument to the Fisherman: “sciacqua, sciaborda/ scroscia, schiocca, schianta/romba, ride, canta/accorda, discorda/tutte accoglie e fonde/ le dissonanze acute/ nelle sue volute/ profonde/ libera e bella,/ numerosa e folle,/possente e molle,/creatura viva/ che gode/ del suo mistero/fugace” (L’Onda - G.D’Annunzio) Stone monument on the Lungomare, near to via Alighieri, set to memory of Fishermen lost into the sea.