Torricella Peligna

Nine hundred metres up, the Carricini tribe, a man mummified in the 17th century and the birthplace of the man who founded the Brigata Majella.

The story

Torricella Peligna is a municipality in the Aventino valley, in the province of Chieti, about 900 metres above sea level. It belongs to the Aventino-Medio Sangro mountain community.

History

Local tradition traces the founding of Torricella to the abandonment of Iuvanum during the Byzantine wars of the 6th century AD. The first certain records, however, date from the 12th century, when it was a fief of the Orsini. In antiquity the settlements here were inhabited by the Samnite tribes of the Carricini, whose land bordered — beyond the Maiella — on the Peligni of Sulmona and Campo di Giove, the Pentri to the south and the Frentani towards the sea.

Torricella made the national news during the Second World War. The Germans, falling back on the Gustav Line, laid the village waste, and in 1944 they were fought by the Brigata Majella, whose commander Ettore Troilo had been born in this very municipality. Many people were displaced and many houses destroyed. Torricella was later rebuilt and is today a destination for visitors as an excellent place for summer air.

Origins

Finds from the Italic period, going back to the 6th century BC, are plentiful. Various archaeological discoveries have been made in the outlying districts, and the objects are now kept in the Iuvanum Archaeological Museum and in the one at Chieti. At Sant'Antonio a tomb was found with a bronze helmet, two plates to protect the heart (cardiophylax), a dagger, a collar, a spiral armlet, four finger rings and an iron fibula.

The main economic activity was farming, together with stock-rearing. Many drove roads crossed the whole area, linking the routes behind the Maiella with those that ran along the coast towards Foggia.

People

Among the most important people born at Torricella Peligna is Silvio D'Amico, journalist, editor of many reviews and teacher of theatre history at the “Eleonora Duse” royal school of acting, which he himself reformed into the National Academy of Dramatic Art. His series “Il Teatro del Novecento” and “Repertorio” have gone down in history.

• Antonio Manzi, patriot and founder of the Brigata Majella;
• the Bellini family, from which — once it had moved to Catania — came the great composer Vincenzo Bellini, named after his grandfather;
• the Fante family which, on moving to America, gave the world John Fante, later a great novelist.

What to see

In the building that houses the library there is a small museum with objects and inscribed stones from the Italic and Roman period. What is most striking, though, is the mummified body of a man who lived in the 17th century, found in the parish church during work carried out after the earthquake of 1984. In the pillow of the burial, among the straw, ears of spelt were found, a usual crop in mountain villages at that time: the ear is kept in the Museum of the History and Transformation of the Landscape.

To follow the old drove roads, visit the old fountains scattered across the area, see the remains of megalithic walls on Monte Moresco or simply enjoy the views, there are three waymarked routes devised within the Museum of the History and Transformation of the Landscape.