CAPESTRANO
At 465
meters of height, on a hill in the high Tirino valley, rises
Capestrano, historical village and spot of
artistic and cultural interest.
The village has medieval origins and it thinks it has been
founded by the inhabitants of the ancient Aufinum,
a center localized through the archaeological rests a little
bit downhill respect to Capestrano, as a result of the barbaric
invasions that followed to the fall of Rome.
In 752 it began the presence of the Benedictines friars on
the territory through the construction of the monastery of
Saint Peter ad Oratorium.
In the Middle Ages (1298) the fief is owned by Riccardo d'
Acquaviva in order then to pass to Pietro di Celano (1318).
Of posterior age it is the construction of the Castle (1463)
wanted by Antonio Piccolomini, who enlarge
a previous construction and build to its interior a beautiful
noble palace. In the 1579 Capestrano passes to Francesco
de Medici.
Stages of the visit are Castello Piccolomini
and its quadrangular tower that dominates the ancient village,
the church of Santa Maria della Pace (that
keeps the tomb of Alfonso Piccolomini, killed by the count
of Celano) and the Convent San Giovanni di Capestrano,
built in XV century.
The Monastery San Pietro ad Oratorium (XI
sec. on a previous one of 752), embellished with Byzantine
fresco (second half of 1200) completes the visit of splendid
village.
Capestrano became famous world-wide for the finding, happened
in 1934 in a vineyard, of an ancient statue preroman age known
like the “Guerriero di Capestrano”
and today kept at the National Archaeological Museum in Chieti.
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