Scurcola Marsicana Pictures Gallery

Scurcola Marsicana is a comune and town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
It is located at the feet of Mount San Nicola, on the western rim of the former Fucine Lake. The most ancient findings of human presence in the area date from the 9th - 8th centuries BC. The name has Lombard origin, and is first mentioned around 1150 AD.
In the nearby, in the Piani Palentini, was fought the famous Battle of Tagliacozzo between Conradin of Hohenstaufen and Charles I of Anjou. The city was also the seat of a massacre of the local population by the Piedmontese troops in the aftermath of the unification of Italy.
Main sights are: the Church of Sant'Egidio, the Church of Sant'Antonio, the Church of SS. Trinità, the Church of Maria SS. della Vittoria, the Castello Orsini (Orsini Castle).

Rosciolo dei Marsi Pictures Gallery

The Church of Santa Maria in Valle Porclaneta was built during the first half of the XIth cent. in the Valley of Velino, near the ancient village of Rusculum (Rosciolo).
As well as its dedication to the Virgin, The Church also includes the ancient name of the valley, Porclaneta, and the origin of this name has been interpreted in several different ways: some, for example, believe it derives from a term used in the Hebrew language meaning 'chasm'.
The Church was part of a larger monastic complex and already existed in the valley by the first half of the XIth cent.; it stood above the Castle of Rosciolo, a feudal village of the Counts of Marsi.
Over the Centuries the Church was affected by numerous historical events: it was destroyed in 1268 at the time of a battle between Corradino of Svevia and Charles of Anjou.
The Church has kept its original Benedectine layout, characterised by a simple, essential spatiality and exceptionally high quality sculptural decorations.
This Abruzzese Church's most remarkable features are however it ciborium and an ambo, signed in 1150 by Roberto, who worked in collaboration with Nicodemus.

Anguillara Pictures Gallery

Anguillara Sabazia is located at around 27km from Rome.
It nestles on a small cape on the coast of the Bracciano Lake; its center and its beach make it a popular destination for tourists.
Anguillara Sabazia is an antique medieval center, the name comes from the old villa 'Anguillara' of the family Rutilia Paola.
It was a country hold by different families including the Orsini, a wonderful Palace to testify the great Renaissance in the area is the Palazzo Baronale, with frescos from the follower of Raffaello, the Torrione and the Porta Castello.
Very famous Neolitic Village discouvered in the water of the lake, meant to be the first village in Europa,where have been descouvered 3 boats in wood dated 5500years b.c.
Three kilometres east of the town lies the small, volcanic lake of Martignano, also popular with tourists. The two lakes and the surrounding area have been declared as Regional Park and are under a strict naturalistic control.

Sarteano Pictures Gallery

Sarteano rises around a castle, and it appears one of the most untouched and sincere town of the zone: its origin is not less ancient then Chiusi’s, infact somebody thinks that the real Charmars is here.
Maybe its name comes from the aristocratic 'Sertorius' from the Etrusco-Roman epoch.
On the Bargagli public square is the income to the Church of San Francesco. The origin of this church goes back to first of XVI the century.
From Piazza Bargagli it is gone up in Public square of the Town hall. On the left the Communal Palace, whose fourteenth century origins appear on the flank of the construction. The origins of the Church of San Lorenzo go back to XIII the century, as they attest to some remainders in the passage between the Church and the Sacrestia.
Continuing for the way rooms to the Castle, solid fortress and stony, enough very conserved that it goes back to XIII the century. Because of its strategic position it was contended by Orvieto, Perugia and Siena.

Radicofani Pictures Gallery

The town of Radicofani offers the sight of wonderful landscapes, the famous Villa Medicea called 'La Posta' and the Church of San Pietro built in a Romanesque style. It is in the province o Siena at 780 m of altitude.
In the Early Middle Ages, Radicofani was a fortress and it was cited in the year 973 for the first time. Around it, a first built-up area called "Callemala" rose. This building had long been disputed between the inhabitants of the Abbey of San Salvatore, set on the Amiata mountain, and the Counts Aldobrandeschi.
The town became an autonomous municipality and sided with the Guelfs, giving shelter to many Sienese exiles and suffering the violent reprisal of the Republic (1236). At the end of the XIII century, the legendary figure of Ghino di Tacco, the 'gentleman brigand', became famous in Radicofani. This leader, who belonged to the dynasty of the Conti of Guardavallo and who was a relentless Ghibelline, earned a great fame also thanks to Dante and Boccaccio, who cited him in their works.

Capestrano Pictures Gallery

Capestrano is a little town in Abruzzo. In the necropolis the statue of the Warrior of Capestrano (4th century BCE) was found during the work in a field by a farmer. The tall statue depicts an early Italic warrior in full gear.
Main sights are: Piccolomini or Mediceo Castle and the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter ad Oratorium.
The castle was built in the XIII century, on the hill next to the Tirino river and the Abbey of St. Peter ad Oratorium in a strategic position at 505 m on the sea level. The first document of 1284, when King Charles I of Sicily gave the castle to Riccardo d'Acquaviva, marquis of Capestrano.
The Abbey of St. Peter ad Oratorium was built in 752 by the Lombard King Desiderius. It is a church with a nave, two side aisles and a choir. Onto the romanic portal there are two marble relief with the figures of David and St. Vincent Deacon.
The façade has a marble square inscription in enigmatic Latin: SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS, that mean everywhere - operates - holds - plow - sower. It is the anagram of the prayer Pater Noster.

Bussi sul Tirino Pictures Gallery

Bussi sul Tirino is a town in the Province of Pescara. Main sights are the Castle and the Church of Santa Maria di Carignano.
The earliest mention of the church appears in a document written in the year 1024 attesting to a donation made to the church by a priest called Anserano. During the 19th century the mountain under which the complex stood subsided; the repeated landslides caused serious damage and it was completely abandoned.
The church, therefore, is all that can be seen today of the entire monastery complex of which only a few streches of wall, rediscovered during recent restoration work, remain. The spacious interior has a nave and two side aisles subdivided by a series of lancet arches resting on pillars with decorated capitals.
The apsidal conch is decorated externally with a series of small pensile arches.

L'Aquila Pictures Gallery N°2

Main sights: Forte Spagnolo, the Church of San Bernardino di Siena, the Church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, the Fontana delle novantanove cannelle.