Abruzzo
Abruzzo, historically also known as Abruzzi, is a region of Southern Italy. It has an area of and a population of nearly 1.3 million. It is divided into four provinces: L'Aquila, Teramo, Pescara, and Chieti. Its western border, shared with Lazio, lies east of Rome. L'Aquila is both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila, and is the second largest city. The other provincial capitals are Pescara, which is Abruzzo's largest city and major port, Teramo, and Chieti. Other large cities and towns in Abruzzo include the industrial and high tech center Avezzano, as well as three important industrial and touristic centers, Vasto, Lanciano, and Sulmona.
Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and northwest, Molise to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Geographically, Abruzzo is divided into a mountainous area in the west, which includes the highest massifs of the Apennines, such as the Gran Sasso d'Italia and the Maiella, and a coastal area in the east, with beaches on the Adriatic Sea.
Culturally, Abruzzo is considered a region of Southern Italy; however, geographically it is often considered part of Central Italy. Because of its historic association with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Italian statistical authority ISTAT deems it to be part of Southern Italy.
Abruzzo is known as "the greenest region in Europe" as half of the region's territory is protected through national parks and nature reserves, more than any other region in Italy. There are three national parks, one regional park, and 38 protected nature reserves. These ensure the survival of rare species, such as the golden eagle, the Abruzzo chamois, the Apennine wolf, and the Marsican brown bear. Abruzzo's parks and reserves host 75% of Europe's animal species. The region is also home to Calderone, one of Europe's southernmost glaciers.
Nineteenth-century Italian diplomat and journalist chose the adjectives forte e gentile to capture what he saw as the character of the region and its people. Forte e gentile has since become the motto of the region.
Etymology
The name Abruzzo, according to the most accredited hypothesis first proposed by Renaissance historian Flavio Biondo in Italia Illustrata, derives from Aprutium as a popular evolution of Praetutium, meaning "land of the Praetutii", an ancient Italic people that lived in the area of present-day Teramo. According to other hypotheses, the name could also derive from abruptus.In the 1273, King Charles I of Anjou divided the Justiciarate of Abruzzo into two territories along the Pescara river: Abruzzo Citeriore and Abruzzo Ulteriore ; from this division, the region was also known by the plural name Abruzzi.
History
Prehistory
Paleolithic
Although an earlier presence cannot be ruled out, findings in the region related to archaic humans date from around 700,000 years ago. Thousands of flint tools and weapons have been collected on fluvial terraces and near former lakes. These testify to the presence of different Homo species over time, ranging from Homo erectus and Neanderthals to modern humans. A site located at Popoli also contained hippopotamus bones. The most important evidence of Neanderthals' presence in the region was found in caves in Calascio and dates back to the Middle Paleolithic.Significant evidence of Upper Paleolithic human populations has been found in various places, including the Fucino depression and Montebello di Bertona, the latter giving its name to a distinctive stoneworking technique called "Bertonian".
Neolithic
After the Mesolithic transition, which was characterized by climate change and a lack of food resources, agriculture was introduced in Abruzzo by Neolithic farmers from the Middle East. A skeleton from Lama dei Peligni in the province of Chieti was dated back to 6,540 BC using radiometric dating.In Abruzzo and Marche, villages typical of the in the 5–6th millennium BC consisted of huts, and were generally located on fluvial terraces or hills overlooking rivers. In some cases, they were defended by a moat. Caves were often used for rituals. These people practiced agriculture, husbandry, hunting, fishing, and production of pottery, which was painted or decorated. Other older Neolithic cultures present in Abruzzo are called the Impressed Ceramic culture and the Catignano culture.
Metal Ages
The Bronze Age saw the spread of the Apennine culture and the Subapennine culture in central-southern Italy, including in Abruzzo. The former has been associated with pastoralism, and the latter with agriculture. During the Late Bronze Age, the Proto-Villanovan culture emerged in Abruzzo.There are sites of Iron Age necropoli at Fiorano, Campovalano, Alfedena, and Capestrano.
Ancient history
At the end of the Iron Age, Abruzzo was inhabited by different tribes, including the peoples defined by ancient Roman tradition as Sabelli: Oscan-speaking Pentri, Carricini, and Frentani, and, more generically, the Osco-Umbrian Aequi, Praetutii, Vestini, Marrucini, Marsi, and Paeligni.Considered strong warriors by ancient writers, the tribes fought against the Romans in the Samnite Wars. Some tribes accepted the alliance with the Romans, while others surrendered after the Samnite Wars. Following progressive Romanization, they supported the Romans and contributed to many victories in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. They fought again with Rome during the Social War to gain political rights and created the ephemeral state called Italia with Corfinio as the capital. After the Social War, they obtained Roman citizenship and in the Imperial period favoured economic activities such as trade and pastoralism. On the basis of a division by Augustus, the territory of what is now Abruzzo was part of "Regio V Picenum" and especially "Regio IV Sabina et Samnium". Much later, the region corresponded to the Valeria province, according to the Diocletian decisions, and was among the first to see the arrival of Christianity.
Evidence from archeological sites shows that many cities in Abruzzo date back to ancient times. Corfinio was known as Corfinium when it was the chief city of the Paeligni, and it became the capital of "Italia" against the Romans during the Social War. Today's Chieti has been inhabited since the Chalcolithic era, and was an important center for the Marrucini. Atri was known as Hatria and Teramo was known variously in ancient times as Interamnia and Teramne. Pinna, Anxanum, Hortona, Histonium, Sulmona, and Marruvium are among the settlements that are still inhabited while others are no longer so, such as Cluviae near Casoli.
Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Gothic War between the Byzantine Empire and the Ostrogothic Kingdom, looting and devastation of monasteries and towns accompanied the arrival of Germanic Lombards in the region. Around 572, the Lombards divided Abruzzo into the Duchy of Benevento and that of Spoleto, with the Faroald I of Spoleto becoming the first Duke of Spoleto. His successor, Ariulf of Spoleto, annexed other territories: the former territories controlled by the Aequi, Marsi, Peligni, and Vestini. In the 8th century, Transamund II of Spoleto rebelled against Liutprand, King of the Lombards, but was able to recover his duchy and also to include other remaining territories of the former Valeria province.After the beginning of domination by the Franks, in 801, Teate also passed from the Lombardic Duchy of Benevento to the Frankish Duchy of Spoleto. In 843, some territories were separated from the duchy, with Celano as the capital. Counts of Marsi from different lineages ruled "Marsia" from 843 to 926. In 871, Louis II of Italy founded, as the Carolingian Emperor, a monastery, which would become very powerful in the history of Abruzzo. With the rule of Hugh of Italy from 926, the territories were divided: Penne and Teate to, and today's province of L'Aquila to Berardo.
Kingdom of Sicily
After two attempted conquests by two Norman princes of Capua in Abruzzo, two other Normans, Robert Guiscard and Robert I of Loritello, conquered Teate, Valva, and Penne. Later, all of Abruzzo was definitively conquered by Norman Roger II of Sicily. In 1156, his son, William I of Sicily, had these victories officially recognized by Pope Adrian IV.As part of the Kingdom of Sicily, Abruzzo was involved in the conflicts following the death of William II of Sicily in 1189. The territories sided with Constance, Queen of Sicily and Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, but after the death of the former in 1198, they were invaded by Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor. They were also involved in the conflicts between Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX, including the War of the Keys. Following this, the administrative region of Abruzzo was formed in the 1230s, when Frederick II divided his realms into justiciarates, with Abruzzo forming one of them.
The newly founded L'Aquila was destroyed by Manfred, King of Sicily in 1259, and in the Battle of Tagliacozzo, supported the defeat of his nephew Conradin against Charles I of Anjou, the new king of Sicily. From the last half of the 13th century, L'Aquila took a central role in the region. Abruzzo was divided into Abruzzo Citra and Abruzzo Ultra by Charles I of Anjou in the 1270s.
Kingdom of Naples
In 1302, after the rebellion called Sicilian Vespers and the subsequent war, the Peace of Caltabellotta divided the former Kingdom of Sicily as follows: Sicily to the Crown of Aragon and the Southern Italian Peninsula still to the Capetian House of Anjou.The region was profoundly affected during the wars that followed a conspiracy which resulted in the assassination of Andrew, Duke of Calabria, the husband of Queen Joanna I of Naples. Different towns sided at first with the brother of the victim, Louis I of Hungary. In 1443, Alfonso V of Aragon, King of Sicily, conquered the Kingdom of Naples. In the decades that followed, Abruzzo saw many battles, including the ones associated with the War of L'Aquila. Under the Aragonese rulers, L'Aquila started to become a military center, giving up its political and economic importance to Chieti. This period was characterized by economic decline and the spread of brigandage, but coastal centers benefited from trade with the Republic of Venice's overseas territories.
Shortly after the Italian War of 1494–1495 carried out by Charles VIII of France, the Kingdom of Naples returned to Ferdinand II of Aragon. In this and in the following conflict between the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain over the Kingdom of Naples, Abruzzo sided with France, but Spain won in 1503 and started to dominate the Kingdom of Naples with its viceroys.
In Abruzzo, the aristocracy tried to regain more control when there was a rebellion in the Kingdom of Naples led by a fisherman named Masaniello in 1647.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the region was affected by destructive earthquakes, which also devastated L'Aquila and Sulmona, and the War of the Spanish Succession, with the Austrian siege at Pescara in 1707. In 1734, Charles III of the House of Bourbon, King of Spain, ended the short Habsburg Austrian domination, which contributed to large land concentrations in Abruzzo.