GUARDIAGRELE
Ælion,
was the locality of cult dedicated to the God Sun that rose
downhill. The present name derives from the successive evolution
of the place name under the domination of the territory: Grælis
in Latin, Grele in vulgar italian and with the addition of
the word warda, of Longobard origin it is reached the present
GuardiaGrele, that means to be a guard of Grele toward the
Longobard tower built to look-out post.
It was therefore around the Longobard tower
that the village rose in XII and XIII cent. and appeared later
in ecclesiastical registers (1308). In the
same period, like other regional localities, the village was
fortified with one encircled wall and numerous towers (33)
to defense by invaders and bandits.
From the XV cent. it links its history to that one of the
Reign of Naples of which makes part becoming
an important center of production of goldsmith art,
having the maximum exponent in Nicola da Guardiagrele.
For its panoramic position it deserved the name of Terrace
of Abruzzi received by the poet Gabriel D'Annunzio.
Main monument of Guardiagrele and the church of S.
Maria Maggiore, with gothic portal; we mention moreover
the church of S. Nicola di Bari (founded
in IV century on the rests of a temple dedicated to Jove),
the Convent of Cappuccini (1599). Many of
these buildings got restorings of recent age followed to the
great earthquake of 1706.
Among the noble palaces: Palace Marini (1391),
Palazzo De Lucia (XVI cent.), Palazzo Vitacolonna
(XVIII cent.).
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