Campli

Campli is a communal city located in the Province of Teramo. The town was captured by the French under François de Guise in 1557 during his failed campaign against the Spanish in Naples.

The most attractions are: Museo Nazionale Archeologico (National Archeological Museum), housed in the ancient 14th century Farnese palace. Chiesa di S. Pietro (Church of Saint Peter), known for its walls containing Ancient Roman and High Medieval stone fragments. La Scala Santa (The Sacred Step), 28 wooden steps which, if climbed on ones knees, bring absolution of sins by decree of Pope Clement IV.

Every year since 1964 in the month of August, there is celebration that goes by the name of Sagra della porchetta italica (Feast of Italian Pork). It is considered to be the first such event established in the Region of Abruzzo and one of the earliest organized in all of Italy.

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Atri

Hatria was a Roman colony from which many historians also derive the name of the Adriatic Sea. According to Strabo, it was founded by the Sabini, which is proved also by the remains of an early Iron-Age settlement on the Colle Maraldo di Atri and the necropolis at La Pretara and Colle della Giustizia.

In the VI century BC the town was one of the four major Greek harbors in the Adriatic Sea. In 290 it was conquered by Rome. After the fall of the Roman empire, the territory came under the power of the Lombards (VI century A.D.) and was annexed to the Duchy of Spoleto.

Then the Normans came, and in 1393 Atri was bought by the House of Acquaviva, under whose power a period of great splendor for the city began. At the end of the XVIII century it was given by the Acquaviva to the Kingdom of Naples.

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St Gabriele

St Gabriele dell’Addolorata (Francesco Possenti) is one of the popular saints of Christianity. His sanctuary is at the foot of Gran Sasso and is visited annually by over 2 million pilgrims.

In 1959 Pope John XXIII declared him patron saint of Abruzzo. Nowadays the presence of young people is a characteristic of the shrine. St Gabriele is principally a saint of the young and thousands of young people go to pray to him. Each year, at the beginning of March, 10,000 high school students from Abruzzo and the Marche visit his tomb, 100 days before their final graduation examinations.

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Madonna dello Splendore

Sanctuary of Madonna dello Splendore, a little outside the centre of Giulianova, dedicated to Our Lady who, according to the tradition, appeared to a farmer called Bertolino, on 22 April 1557, right in the place where the building rises; attached is the Capucine Convent.

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Rocca Calascio

La Rocca, at the height of a very high peak (1500 m above sea level), has a regular plant with large towers with a circular plan and a male at the center. Still retains sharp walls and even a rare original crenellation. The original construction of the fortress, consisting of an isolated quadrangular tower with already squared stones, dates back to the year 1000 and served as a watchtower.

Dominating the southern slope of the Gran Sasso, the Valle del Tirino and the Piana di Navelli, it has always played an important surveillance role: it was, in fact, the highest part of a system of sighting points for the control of the territory. The whole defense apparatus consisted of three elements: the Rocca, the underlying village and its walls. The housing settlement retains its original medieval features.

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L'Aquila

L'Aquila is a city and comune of central Italy. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the Aterno river, and surrounded by the Apennine Mountains, with the Gran Sasso d'Italia to the north-east, it is both the capital of the Abruzzo region and the seat of the province of L'Aquila.

Described as "the most handsome city of the Abruzzo" by the Financial Times, L'Aquila sits upon hillside in the middle of a narrow valley, tall snow-capped mountains of the Gran Sasso massif flank the town.

A maze of narrow streets lined with baroque or renaissance buildings and churches, opening onto elegant piazzas, home to the University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila is a lively college town and as such has many cultural institutions: a repertory theater, a symphony orchestra, a fine-arts academy, a state conservatory, and a film institute.

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