Nature · Casoli
Lake Casoli
The Sant'Angelo reservoir on the Aventino, with the Maiella behind it. On its shore opens a cavity lined with gypsum alabaster.
The story
The Sant'Angelo reservoir, which everyone simply calls Lake Casoli, was formed by damming the Aventino at the foot of the historic centre. Its water, a blue-green that changes with the season, has the profile of the Maiella behind it.
Around the lake gypsum alabaster is found, a rock made of very small crystals and pure white in colour. Remarkable is the cavity near the lake, entirely lined with alabaster.
The lake is one of the viewpoints on the system of itineraries of the Museum of the History and Transformation of the Landscape, and one of the places where the relationship between water, farming and settlement that runs through the whole Aventino valley can be read most clearly.
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Architecture
The historic centre of Casoli
Houses set in rings around the tower, with the streets broken at every ring so that nobody could climb straight to the top.
Casoli
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Architecture
The Ducal Castle of Casoli
A pentagonal tower with a whole village grown around it. D'Annunzio stayed here; in 1943 it became the British headquarters.
Casoli
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Nature
The gypsum outcrops
Rocks formed when the Mediterranean dried out, six million years ago. Soft enough to dig a house into.
Aventino Valley
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Nature
The Serranella Oasis
A dam built for industry turned within a few years into a marsh, then an oasis, then a reserve: three hundred hectares where the Sangro and the Aventino meet.
Sant'Eusanio del Sangro, Altino and Casoli
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