Teramo is an Italian town of 53 359 inhabitants, capital of the
homonymous province in Abruzzo. The city has very ancient origins,
attributable to the Piceni and Pretuzi, who dominated the area of
Aprutium until the third century BC, before the Roman domination,
hence the term "Abruzzo".
In the ancient nucleus of Teramo,
of regular shape, there are important remains of the Roman and
medieval period. Remained within the river confluence plateau until
the early nineteenth century, the city subsequently launched an
urban reorganization program that led it to expand, especially after
the construction of the bridges over the Tordino and Vezzola.
Castello — Its territory of reference coincides with that of the
Parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Colleatterrato — The recently
established neighborhood was born from the demographic expansion
following the establishment of the "167 zone". It is located in the
easternmost part of the city and is mainly divided into three areas:
Colleatterrato Alto, Colleatterrato Basso and Contrada Casalena.
Colleparco - It is one of the most recently developed residential areas,
it is located high in the hills and is home to the University of Teramo.
Its notable altitude makes it the highest in the whole city.
Madonna
della Cona also identified only with the name of Cona - It coincides
with the territory of the Parish of Madonna della Cona. It is located in
the western part of the city and develops around state road 80. Among
the very first settlements outside the ancient walls and place of
discovery of Roman archaeological finds (necropolis etc..), as well as
one of the last examples of industrial archeology (Fornace of bricks
using the Hoffman method). In the predominantly residential
neighbourhood, there are 3 high schools: the Hospitality School, the
Surveyors School and the Commercial Technical Institute for Programmers.
Gammarana - It is located behind the train station, between the fifties
and sixties it was an industrial area, then it became residential.
Madonna delle Grazie - Campo Fiera - It extends south of the city, just
beyond the old city walls. It includes the park dedicated to Ivan
Graziani and the sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie.
Piano della
Lenta - It extends north of the urban area of the city along the state
road 81 Piceno Aprutina which leads to nearby Ascoli Piceno. It is
almost entirely residential and has more than 3000 inhabitants.
San
Benedetto — Brand new neighborhood in Teramo. Built at the beginning of
the 2000s in the eastern area of the city, close to the lower
Colleatterrato area, populated by around 6,000 inhabitants.
San
Berardo - Located in the eastern area of Teramo, it is a mainly
residential neighborhood dedicated to the patron saint of the city. It
is one of the historic districts of the city, its banner is white and
red and bears the symbol of the winged dragon. It coincides with the
territory of the Cathedral Parish.
San Leonardo - It is one of the
historic districts of the city, in the 16th century it incorporated the
Sant'Antonio district, its banner is a galley, equipped with oars, on a
red field. It coincides with the territory of the Parish of
Sant'Antonio.
Santa Maria a Bitetto - It is one of the historic
districts of the city, in the 16th century it incorporated the Santa
Croce district; its banner is black and red and bears the symbol of the
elephant with a tower on its back. It coincides with the territory of
the Carmine Parish. Santo Spirito Today known as Porta Romana, it is one
of the historic districts of the city; its banner is yellow, white and
green with the symbol of the tower in the middle. It coincides with the
territory of the Parish of Santo Spirito.
Villa Mosca - Mainly
residential neighborhood. It is home to the "Mazzini" hospital in
Teramo.
Villa Pavone — Artisan agglomeration located in the far east
of the city.
Station - Residential and commercial district between
the Gammarana and San Berardo districts.
The historic center of Teramo was divided into four historic
districts:
San Giorgio: part called Terranova, to the west,
accessible from the Corso of the same name from Piazza Garibaldi, which
crosses the neighborhood up to Piazza Martiri della Libertà, where the
two porticoed buildings and the minor façade of the Cathedral are
located
San Leonardo: historic district of the Roman Interamnia,
delimited by Corso Cerulli, Piazza Sant'Anna, Piazza Orsini. There are
the church of Sant'Antonio di Padova, the chapel of Sant'Anna and the
nearby domus of Largo Torre Bruciata, the domus of the Lion, the
Melatino house, the church of San Luca, the small church of Santa
Caterina, and the the former psychiatric hospital of Teramo
"Sant'Antonio Abate" with Porta Melatina. It ends in Largo Madonna delle
Grazie at the far east of the Corso Cerulli-Corso De Michetti road axis,
via the Porta Reale access.
Santo Spirito: delimited by Corso di
Porta Romana via Vittorio Veneto, Circonvallazione Spalato, Piazza
Dante. It ends in Piazza Orsini, where the Roman amphitheater and
theater are located, on the border with the San Leonardo district
Santa Maria a Bitetto: the heart of this neighborhood is bordered by
Piazza Verdi, via Stazio, via del Sole, with the small square where Casa
Urbani faces. A considerable portion of this historic neighborhood was
dismantled in the 1960s to create new modern homes, see for example the
street of via Savini. The former church of Santa Maria ad Bitectum and
the parish church of Carmine are preserved in history.
The city of Teramo was surrounded by walls in around 1158, after the
destruction two years earlier by Count Robert III of Loritello, who
literally razed the city to the ground, minus some buildings. In
historical maps from the 17th century, the city wall with gates and
watchtowers is still clearly visible, but in the 18th century it lost
its importance and began to be dismantled. At the beginning of the
twentieth century almost the entire perimeter wall had disappeared, with
the exception of some doors and Torre Bruciata, the ancient bell tower
of the old Cathedral of Santa Maria Aprutiensis. The city walls embraced
the area of the Circonvallazione Ragusa to the north, with the stretch
of Porta delle Recluse - Porta Melatino, entrance to the former
psychiatric hospital of Teramo "Sant'Antonio Abate", via Porta Reale to
the east, the Circonvallazione Split to the south, Viale Mazzini to the
west with the entrance from Porta Due di Coppe to Corso San Giorgio. The
visible ports are:
Torre Bruciata: it is part of the Sant'Anna dei
Pompetti complex. It is a Roman bastion from the 2nd century BC, later
transformed into the bell tower of the old cathedral of Santa Maria
Aprutiensis, 10 meters high, with powerful walls surrounding it. The
nickname "burned" comes from the conspicuous parts still in black which
date back to the destruction of Roberto di Loritello.
Porta Reale or
Porta Madonna: is located at the eastern end of Corso De Michetti, and
is one of the historic gateways to the historic centre. Together with
Porta Melatina it is an honorary arch, and not a fortification, built in
1825 in honor of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies who visited the city.
The arch is called "Porta Madonna" by the people of Teramo because it
turns towards the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, and was built
in a very rough and simple way, with a large round arch supported by
lateral wall pillars. In fact, the arch, as it appears today, is the
result of a restoration carried out during the twenty-year period, with
travertine blocks, to which fasces were affixed, subsequently removed.
In front of the entrance to Piazzale Madre Teresa, where the sanctuary
is located, there is a statue portraying Giuseppe Garibaldi in the guise
of a leader.
Porta delle Recluse: it is a door built at the
beginning of the 20th century, during the expansion work of the
psychiatric hospital of Teramo. It is a large round arch, where female
inmates were made to pass through the hospital rooms.
Porta Melatina:
formerly "of Sant'Antonio", it is a historic gate of the walls, dating
back to the 14th century, but heavily modified during the expansion of
the psychiatric hospital, of which Porta delle Recluse is coeval. Today
it faces north, on the Ragusa ring road, the door has a simple round
arch, and is the main entrance to the historic center coming from the
north, as well as to the psychiatric hospital, whose main body rests
right above the arch.
Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta
The city's most valuable artistic
work is the Duomo or cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, which has the
rank of minor basilica. Its construction, begun in 1158, is in
Romanesque style and, in the upper part, takes on a Gothic style, having
been built under the episcopate of Niccolò degli Arcioni. Inside there
are the precious silver frontal by Nicola da Guardiagrele and the
polyptych by the Venetian artist Jacobello del Fiore. Cathedral church,
seat of the diocese and of the bishop of Aprutino, who, enjoying the
title of prince of Teramo, as well as count of Bisegno and baron of
Rocca Santa Maria, had at least since the time of bishop Guido II, the
very rare privilege of celebrating the armed Mass .
After the latest
excavation and restoration works, the crypt of San Berardo was brought
to light after approximately 300 years of oblivion and has been visible
to the public since September 2007.
The cathedral was restored in the
14th century, and enlarged in 1739 with a new baroque chapel, and
interventions in the interior and facade, dismantled in the 20th century
restorations to bring the structure back to the ancient
Romanesque-medieval style. The Cosmatesque portal is formed by Diodato
Romano (1332), with valuable sculptures, such as that of the Archangel
Gabriel and the Annunziata by Nicola da Guardiagrele. Above it there are
the red shield coats of arms of the city of Teramo, Atri and of the
bishop Nicolò degli Arcioni.
On the right stands the imposing 48
meter bell tower, begun in the 12th century and completed in 1493 by
Antonio da Lodi. Until the 1960s it was connected by a curial loggia to
the bishop's palace, i.e. the Arch of Monsignor ", demolished during the
Gambacorta municipal council. The bell tower is equipped with
Renaissance arches, a twentieth-century civic clock, and valuable
battlements at the top of the last level, where the octagonal lantern
that supports the spire rises.
The interior of the cathedral has
three naves and is divided into three styles: thirteenth-century
Romanesque, fourteenth-century Gothic and that of the large chapel of
the New Sacristy (1594-1632) with eighteenth-century paintings by
Sebastiano Majewski. The construction phases are clearly visible from
the different alignment of the opposite facades of the Cathedral, which
are not in perfect correspondence with each other. The three-nave layout
is given by Gothic pillars, which contain the triumphal arch near the
presbytery with the civic coat of arms supported by angels, and the
wooden trussed ceiling. Near the altar there is an antependium, by
Nicola di Guardiagrele, with 35 embossed decorated panels that retrace
scenes from the life of Jesus.
Sanctuary of the Madonna delle
Grazie
Just outside the walls (at Porta Reale, in Largo Madre Teresa
di Calcutta) stands the ancient sanctuary dedicated to the Madonna delle
Grazie. It was built in 1153 taking its origins from the church of a
Benedictine monastery entitled to Sant'Angelo delle Donne. In 1448 the
initial construction was enlarged to accommodate the minor friars of San
Giacomo della Marca. At the beginning of the twentieth century the
church was restored and its façade modified. Inside there are frescoes
by Cesare Mariani, who depicted himself as a great old man with a beard
in the fresco of the Nativity Scene. On the main altar there is the
Madonna and Child, in polychrome wood, the work of Silvestro
dell'Aquila.
Church of Sant'Anna dei Pompetti
In the historic
center, the church of Sant'Anna dei Pompetti, once called the church of
San Getulio, can be visited. It is the only early medieval building in
Teramo, a remnant of the ancient cathedral of Santa Maria Aprutiensis,
which was partly built on foundations from the Roman era and which was
burned in 1156 by the Normans, together with the entire city.
The
church would have been built on top of a Roman domus (next to the
archaeological area of the square of the same name, where there is a 1st
century villa), which constituted the entrance narthex of the ancient
cathedral. In confirmation of this, there is a 12th century fresco in
the subarch of the middle entrance which depicts two angels in the act
of holding a clipeus containing the blessing hand of God. From the
oldest part there remains a room divided into three bays, of which the
central covered with brick vault strengthened by ribs that rest on
pillars of semi-columns. In the room there is a triforium with a pair of
Roman columns and Corinthian capitals. On the back wall there is a
fifteenth-century fresco depicting the breastfeeding Madonna with Saint
Apollonia and Saint Lucia by Giacomo di Campli.
Church of
Sant'Agostino
Known from sources since the 14th century when it was
founded together with the convent, the church presents itself in the
guise of a substantial restoration in 1876, designed by the architect
Lupi. The interior has a single nave, near the altar there is an 18th
century canvas depicting the "Madonna della Cintola" with the
Augustinian saints (including Santa Monica, Sant'Agostino and San
Gregorio). In the nineteenth-century main chapel there are neoclassical
frescoes near the dome and seven eighteenth-century canvases depicting
scenes from the life of the Virgin, together with the precious canvas of
the Assumption from 1741. The former convent still retains its original
appearance with the cloister, where Renaissance frescoes of the saint's
life. In 1792 it was transformed into a prison and then became the
headquarters of the carabinieri.
Two valuable works come from the
church: the "polyptych by Jacobello del Fiore", preserved in the
Cathedral, and a fresco of the Madonna and Child by Giacomo da Campli,
today preserved in the Civic Art Gallery. The facade of the church
reflects the eclectic nineteenth-century style, which reveals the
presence of a rose window, probably visible in the central filled
oculus. Marked by Ionic pilasters in the first major sector, and by a
stringcourse, above the portal there is a large bas-relief with the coat
of arms of the Augustinians.
Capuchin Church
It is located
along Viale Mazzini, at the entrance to Corso Porta Romana. The church
of the Capuchins, or of San Benedetto, dates back to before 1150,
founded by the Benedictine Fathers. In the 16th century it was briefly
entrusted to the Jesuits, and in 1575 it went to the Capuchins, who
collected a large number of volumes in the library. In 1866 with the
suppression of the orders, the books went to the Royal College, and
subsequently to the "Melchiorre Delfico" Library. The complex has an
irregular rectangular plan with the quadrangular part of the former
convent, covered in austere brick, with a bare façade and a simple
Romanesque portal with squared ashlars, with an anciently frescoed
lunette, surmounted at the level of the façade architrave by an oculus.
In 1878, the former convent became the "Regina Margherita" orphanage,
cared for by the Sisters of Charity, and subsequently an asylum, until
it closed. The interior of the main church has a single nave, with a
nave divided into chapels on the right; of interest is the wooden altar
rebuilt in 1762 by friar Giovanni Palombieri.
There are also numerous other churches present in the ancient
historic center of Teramo: among others, the Church of Sant'Agostino
connected to the history of one of the oldest monasteries in the city;
the church of Sant'Antonio (13th century) located in Largo Melatini, in
front of the Portici Savini and the medieval Casa dei Melatino; the
church and convent of San Domenico (13th century) in Corso Porta Romana;
the church of the Santo Spirito (14th century) which overlooks Largo
Proconsole right next to the ancient Roman statue of Sor Paolo
Proconsole (1st century BC) and, "immersed" among the buildings of Corso
Cerulli (commonly called "Corso old"), the small church of Santa
Caterina (9th century).
Church of Sant'Antonio di Padova
It is
located along Corso Cerulli, at the beginning of Corso De Michetti. The
church was originally the convent of San Francesco d'Assisi, an ancient
place of worship in Teramo, built in the 13th century, precisely after
the "liberalizations" of Bishop Sasso in 1207, therefore in 1227. The
building is located on Corso De Michetti, in Romanesque style on the
exterior, with a beautiful splayed portal with a frescoed lunette, and
very finely carved birds near the capitals and arches.
The
interior is divided into two churches, namely the Franciscan convent
with cloister and that of Sant'Antonio in the refectory area. Both
churches were rebuilt in the eighteenth century in Baroque style, which
profoundly changed the ancient appearance.
The interior of
Sant'Antonio has a single nave with deep overhangs, a wooden organ near
the counter-façade, and the semicircular apse which preserves the most
valuable works: the canvas of the Immaculate Conception with San Carlo
Borromeo and Sant'Antonio di Padova by Vincenzo Baldati, while in the
chapel there is a Madonna and Child by an unknown author, from the 17th
century.
Church of the Holy Spirit
It is located in the Largo
Proconsole, with the characteristic statue of "Sor Paolo proconsole".
Although today it is located among civilian homes, the church was built
outside the medieval walls, and there is evidence of it as early as
1277. It was the seat of the Confraternity of the Holy Spirit, which
managed the oldest hospital in the city, now disappeared, located next
to the temple. In the mid-seventeenth century the church was completely
rebuilt, showing its current Baroque appearance. The works were
initially carried out by the architect Giuseppe Giosafatti from Ascoli
Piceno, then by his son Lazzaro. The church is completely made of brick,
on the façade crowned with a tympanum there is a beautiful travertine
portal and a large central window. Framed above the portal are a
Constantinian "Double Cross" of Jerusalem, symbol of the Aprutina
brotherhood, and a dove with spread wings.
On the right side,
incorporated into the walls as a control tower, there is the bell tower
which is a compendium of the Renaissance-Baroque architectural
stratifications of the church itself. The single-nave interior has an
elliptical dome near the presbytery, embellished with
seventeenth-century stuccoes and paintings. Near the main altar there is
a fourteenth-century wooden crucifix, while above the entrance there is
a wooden organ by Vincenzo Paci (1864) supported by a choir, with a
mixtilinear parapet.
Conventual Church of San Domenico
The
complex is located in the Porta Romana district, along the street of the
same name, and is one of the oldest and most prestigious convents in the
city. The construction dates back to the 14th century, today it appears
in a mixed style, with the façade partially rebuilt in neo-Gothic style
by Francesco Savini in the 20th century. It has a gabled roof completely
made of brick, near the façade there is a beautiful portal in whose
lunette some fragments of fifteenth-century frescoes have been
remounted.
The interior consists of a single nave punctuated by
very pronounced Gothic arches; with the various restorations, the
fifteenth-century frescoes showing scenes from the life of San Domenico
were brought back to the walls. The Rosario Chapel is worth seeing,
frescoed by Gilberto Todini with stuccos by Michele Clerici (18th
century). The pointed arches of the interior support the roof trusses, a
late Gothic consolidation of the fifteenth century. The
fourteenth-century frescoes, which resisted the French invasion of the
early nineteenth century, are present on the walls of the choir, on the
terminal part of the left wall of the nave (the latter, the work of the
presumed Luca di Atri, depict Christological stories and the triumph of
Saint Thomas ). The frescoes near the counter-façade, depicting
Sant'Antonio and San Donato, and on the adjacent walls (i.e. the
Annunciation by the master of the "Last Judgment" of Santa Maria in
Piano in Loreto Aprutino), are from the early fifteenth century.
In the 1930s the church became Vicar of the Cathedral, from 2007 to 2015
it was governed by the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception. The
arches of the cloister remain from the adjacent Dominican convent with
some lunettes painted by Sebastiano Majewski, which show scenes from the
life of the saint.
Not much original remains of the ancient
convent structure, because it was closed to worship by the Napoleonic
edicts, and re-entrusted to the Dominicans only in 1931.
Church
of Santa Maria del Carmine
It is located in the Santa Maria a Bitetto
neighborhood in Largo del Carmine, formerly outside the walls, and is a
1761 reconstruction of the ancient church of Santa Croce, which belonged
to a monastery dating back to 1447 and then fell into ruin, ceded to the
Carmelites in 1578. In 1809 following the suppression of Murat, the
convent became the seat of the gendarmerie (today it houses the main
barracks). After the forced rehabilitation of the medieval neighborhood
of Santa Maria a Bitetto by the Gambacorta municipal council (1950s),
the seat of the parish passed from the ancient deconsecrated church to
the church of Carmine.
It has a rectangular plan, with a
mixtilinear crowning façade, punctuated by classical pilasters, with a
simple portal with a flat architrave, framed in stone. In the upper
part, a large central window is surmounted by a segmental arched gable.
In a large central square there is a baroque fresco of the Virgin of
Carmine. The single nave interior is rich in typically Baroque stucco
work, the work of the same masters who worked in Sant'Antonio di Padova.
The presbytery is connected to the eighteenth-century wooden choir, and
near the counter-façade there is an organ.
Church of Santa
Caterina d'Alessandria
Together with the church of San Luca, this
small temple is one of the best preserved medieval religious
architecture in the city. It is located along Corso Cerulli, in Vico
Antica Cattedrale, dating back to the late 15th century, with a small
narrow façade between the civil houses, made with unhewn stones, showing
a very simple portal surmounted by a window. Some reused elements are a
Roman column with a shaft decorated with leaves, two blocks with symbols
and inscriptions. The epigraphs in Gothic writing are different symbols:
the first on the left is an eight-spoked cogwheel, symbol of the saint's
martyrdom, the second the symbol of the anvil and the hammer. The two
"S" refer to "Saint" Caterina and San Getulio, since the old Teramo
cathedral of Santa Maria (today Sant'Anna) was connected to it through
the sixteenth-century seminary.
The interior is quite tampered
with for various restorations, with an eighteenth-century roof,
nineteenth-century furnishings, together with the only ancient
conservative symbol, a cogwheel, whose legend says that if turned on
November 25th, the saint would bring economic fortunes and good wishes.
Church of San Luca
The small church was already mentioned in 1372
as the chapel of the Melatino family, and faces in front of this
family's palace. Above the architrave of the door there is a small stone
with the symbol of the "lion of San Marco", dated 1380. According to
Francesco Savini the emblem belongs to another church dedicated to San
Marco and now disappeared, founded by Venetian merchants .
The
small church has a rectangular plan, very simple in stone exterior, with
a portal decorated with a simple architrave, and a bell tower. In the
small central nave there are some baroque paintings, coming from other
churches in Teramo, especially from the former church of San Matteo,
demolished in 1941 near Corso San Giorgio.
Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: it is one of the first main
churches in the modern expansion area of Teramo, overlooking Piazza
Garibaldi, entrance to Corso San Giorgio. The church was built starting
in 1958, as the old parish of San Matteo had been demolished in the
1940s, located near the Prefecture. With the building development of the
neighborhood outside Corso di San Giorgio, the first parish priest of
the new church asked for municipal subsidy, together with free donations
from the faithful, reaching the figure of 3 million lire. The church,
completed in 1962, was one of the first modern ones to be built in the
new space of building expansion, and this is also demonstrated by the
classicism of the style, which echoes neo-Romanesque.
Parish of San
Berardo: it was built around 1950 in the new eastern expansion area,
near the civil hospital. The rectangular church retains many references
to medieval classicism, such as the synthesis of the entrance portico
composed of three long and narrow arches that lead to the main entrance,
with three portals and a central oculus rose window above them. The
single nave interior is covered in marble, and the altar is located near
the semicircular apse, decorated with a gigantic mosaic of Jesus in
triumph over the Vatican City, who with his arms joins the stylized
lights of Paradise and to the dove of the Holy Spirit.
Sacred Heart
Parish.
New Church of the Madonna della Cona: it was inaugurated on 7
December 2007, in the western expansion area of Villa Cona, where the
ancient eighteenth-century church was located (still existing today),
which however was no longer able to contain the increasingly growing
number of faithful. The church is a curious example of a rectangular
layout divided into two portions, since the church occupies a
quadrangular area with two small circular corner bastions, and the third
serves as a bell tower. The architectural design, with a central dome
rising towards the sky, was inspired by Islamic mosques.
Church of
San Gabriele dell'Addolorata in Colleparco: it is a modern church with a
circular plan with attached parish rooms. The ceiling is covered by a
wooden vault, which is interspersed with the perimeter by a series of
elongated openings, with polychrome windows, which infuse light. The
interior is very simple and schematic, with the main altar composed of a
large stylized mosaic.
Church of the Madonna della Salute: in the
Villa Mosca district, it was consecrated in 1968 by Monsignor Abele
Conigli, as a new parish which consolidates the control of the small
country churches of Sant'Antonio, Santa Maria Assunta a Viola and San
Gabriele ai Cannelli. The building is made of reinforced concrete,
oriented to the south-west, with the main access at the facade. The
internal space accommodates a maximum of 500 people, with a simple and
sober single nave, with an adjoining weekday chapel in light and red
marble. The light is provided by stained polychrome windows showing
scenes from the life of Christ, painted by Fabienne Di Girolamo. The
votive statues are dedicated to the Holy Family with the effigy of the
Madonna della Salute.
Church of Santa Maria in Cartecchio: it is
located at the cemetery, located in the new district of Colleatterrato.
The church was built in the 16th century on top of an older one, and
legend has it that the construction was commissioned following a Marian
apparition similar to the apparitions of Canzano (1480) and Giulianova
(1557). The church was renovated in 1790 and then again in 1891, when
the interior took on a late-Gothic style, with cross vaults, in contrast
with the late eighteenth-century external architecture, typical of rural
churches in Abruzzo.
Cloister of San Giovanni: built in the 14th century with the
adjoining convent of San Giovanni a Scorzone (today near Piazza Verdi),
current home of the "Gaetano Braga" Conservatory; it was built by order
of Isabella di Cola di Licio, with a diploma from Charles III of Anjou.
Those of Santa Chiara, Santa Croce, Sant'Anna and San Giovanni di
Scorzone were annexed to the monastery. The convent was active until
1916, when the friars moved to Fermo, so in 1930 the former monastery
was used for various functions up to the current musical high school.
The cloister is made up of a rectangular area with porticoes on three
sides, with round arches supported by columns and pillars at the
corners, which in turn rest on a low stone and brick wall. In some
places the bases are used for capitals and the overturned capitals are
placed as bases, confirming the information that it was a portico
transported from a previous location and rebuilt by inexperienced hands.
On a side porch there is a stone fountain inside a niche framed by
carved stone ashlars. Above the arches of the portico there is an
elegant string course made of bricks and terracotta twists. There is
also a stone portal with decorations that must have led to the ancient
convent and three stone coats of arms on the non-porticoed wall and
three others on the adjacent side.
Cloister of the Madonna delle
Grazie: next to the sanctuary, mixes Renaissance and Baroque styles,
composed of a quadrangular plan with a central well. One part of the
colonnade has Gothic arches, while the others are round arches, resting
on pillars with Ionic capitals.
Cloister of Sant'Antonio: it is part
of the former Franciscan convent, and has Gothic arches that overlook
the square with well.
Cloister of San Domenico: houses a section of
the State Archives of Teramo, while the rest is entrusted to the
Dominicans, after reopening in 1931. The cloister is very small, only
partially preserved in the original style, because it was closed since
1809. Some notable Renaissance frescoes represent scenes from the life
of Saint Dominic.
Church of Santa Maria de Praediis: located in Castagneto, very
ancient and of significant artistic importance. It dates back to the
11th century, built with materials from a destroyed castle, near a
temple dedicated to Vesta. A papal bull of 1153 mentions it as being
under the vicariate of the bishop of Teramo Guido II, also registered
among the 12 main parishes of the Teramo countryside. In 1324 the
register of the Rationes Decimarum reported that the "Praediis" campaign
had 29 churches that shed one ounce and three tarini of silver. The
historian Nicola Palma has handed down the acts of the pastoral visits
in 1611 and 1614. In 1597 it was restored by bishop Vincenzo Bugiatti da
Montesanto. The interior is the element of greatest interest, with a
trussed ceiling and three naves, punctuated by columns alternating with
pillars. The columns are early medieval, the capitals are of various
appearances, one Tuscan, another Corinthian, from the Roman age, while
the others are Romanesque, from the year 1000, decorated with plant and
animal motifs. Interesting is the capital of the apse with a zoomorphic
figure of a quadruped chased by a bird with a dragon's tail, while it
collides with a tendril.
Parish of San Francesco d'Assisi (San Nicolò
a Tordino)
Church of the Madonna degli Angeli (San Nicolò)
Church
of Carmine (Cavuccio)
Church of San Salvatore (Frondarola)
Church
of San Martino (Scapriano)
Church of San Giovanni in Pergulis (Valle
San Giovanni)
Parish of Santa Rita (Piano della Lenta)
Church of
San Felice (Putignano)
Church of San Lorenzo (Colleminuccio)
Church of the Holy Trinity (Colle Santa Maria-Varano Alto)
Church of
the Immaculate Conception (Monticelli)
Church of Santa Maria ad
Porcellianum (Ponzano-Colle Santa Maria)
Church of San Lorenzo
(Nepezzano)
Church of Sant'Emidio (Caprafico)
Church of San Nicola
(Cavuccio)
Church of San Giacomo (Colle Caruno)
Church of Santo
Stefano (Rapino)
Church of Santa Lucia (Rocciano)
Church of Santa
Croce (Sant'Atto)
House of the Melatinos
The palace is of medieval origin dating
back to the 13th century and located in Largo Melatini; it presents
typically Ghibelline windows (the party of the ancient owners) with
architrave and protruding and shell-shaped thresholds: four of these
windows, those that open in the median strip of the facade, are made of
mullioned windows by elegant dividing columns resting on sculpted bases,
three of which they are twisted and, of these, two have a snake with a
woman's head that wraps around them. It was the private home of the
historic Melatino family from Teramo.
Casa D'Egidio
The house
has also been identified over the centuries with the names of the
surnames of other owners, such as: Melatino, Mezzucelli and Manetta.
Nowadays it is the private home of the D'Egidio family. It opens its
main facade along via Niccola Palma, on the corner with via Torre
Bruciata, in the heart of the historical and archaeological center of
the city. Inside there are various testimonies of epigraphic and
heraldic interest. From the stone portal of number 32, with a round arch
surrounded by a frame, shaped uprights and framed by a second frame, you
enter the stone staircase that leads to the upper floors and the lovely
courtyard. Inside the building are kept: two stone coats of arms
belonging to the Melatino and Mezzucelli families and an early medieval
architrave on which is carved, in bas-relief, a incomplete inscription
surrounding the drawing of an axe, a symbol which perhaps belonged to a
guild of arts and professions. The Melatino coat of arms has been
described in detail by local historians including: Muzio Muzii, Niccola
Palma and Francesco Savini. Muzii mentions it in his writings, in the
III Dialogue of the History of Teramo, with these words: «another fine
work in a large brick stone placed above the door of the house, now
owned by Eugenia Consorti, wife of Marino Montani, who descends through
the female line from the Melatini." Palma recalls the coat of arms
placed on the wall of the loggia of the house of Scipione Mezzucelli and
writes that Roberto Melatino, in the year 1372, entrusted its execution
to Bartolomeo di mastro Giocondo whose name he clearly reads at the base
of the slab, he also reports the text of the inscription which is only
partially visible today: «BARTOLOMEUS M(A)G(IST)RI IO(CUNDI)». The
complex heraldic composition appears to be a celebratory synthesis of
the lineage and features the fruity five-branched apple tree, uprooted,
flanked by two winged angels or geniuses who support the crowned helmet
equipped with a helmet. On the latter there are two hollow crosses: one
Latin and the other indicated by five beads, perhaps in memory of
participation in the Crusades fought in the Holy Land between the 11th
and 13th centuries. The crest reproduces the same stylistic layout as
that which appears in the emblem of Berardo Melatino, Podestà and
Captain of the People of Florence in 1347, modeled in the shape of a
bear's paw clawing a chain of six rings concluded by the letter B. On
the cartouche we read the motto, chiseled in the Gothic alphabet, which
reads: «IO SO BRA(N)CA D'(UR)SO P(ER) NATURA DE OFFENDERE AD CHI ME
SDENGNA S(E) P(RO)CURA». On the top there are four heraldic shields
which Palma believes indicate the families related to the Melatinos,
while Savini considers them as «super-excellencies of the Melatinos».
The first refers to the Angevins, ruling family of the Kingdom of
Naples, party, with the Jerusalem Cross enhanced by four crosses on the
left and five lilies of France on the right. The second, also started,
with three lilies of France on the right and enhanced crosses on the
left, could have belonged to the Cavalcanti of Florence. The third is
difficult to read, capped by a cardinal's hat, and its ownership remains
unknown. The fourth was attributed by Savini to the Roman Orsini family
and shows the topping of the prelatical hat with the three-banded shield
and surmounted by a four-petalled rose. The plate was subjected to
chemical-physical analysis in 2004 at the Department of Chemistry -
Chemical Engineering and Materials of the University of L'Aquila to find
out its exact composition. From this investigation it emerged that the
stone is made up of quartzite and calcium, excluding the possibility
that it could be terracotta as claimed by some. The coat of arms was
restored in 2005 by Luciano di Giacomantonio who found the signs of a
previous conservative intervention consisting in the application of a
black patina and some drawings suitable for hiding the hammering and
throwing of stones which the artefact was subjected to. victim in past
centuries. The Mezzucelli coat of arms bears the heraldic emblem of the
family in the center to which a lion's head from the Roman era has been
added. The date 1422 can be read in the cartouche at the base of the
upper decoration.
Palazzo Mancini
It is located along Corso
San Giorgio, and dates back to the 19th century, composed of five
portions divided by ashlar pilasters, which covers the lower part of
each of them. A horizontal frame with alternating oval relief crosses
the entire area, interrupting only at the two main openings along the
course, i.e. the portals with leaf reliefs in the frames, also
embellished with curls.
After two orders of tiles per portion, in the
middle part two large windows, aligned with the portals, are embellished
with large balconies with supports that end in volutes, and these
supports divide the string course frame, which runs along the area. The
order of windows has a triangular tympanum architrave, and is surmounted
in the final part at the top of the building by another order of
rectangular openings. The pilasters end with rich, finely decorated
Corinthian capitals. The part overlooking Via Delfico is very different
from the main façade, as the building was created by merging various
houses from previous centuries.
Former Banco di Napoli building -
Palazzo Pompetti
They overlook Piazza Martiri della Libertà, the one
on the left dates back to the late nineteenth century, built as if from
the Banco di Napoli and built in neoclassical style, with large
porticoes that also overlook Corso San Giorgio. Subsequently in the
1930s it was rebuilt in Littorio style, while maintaining many
characteristics of the previous building, and currently houses the
headquarters of the Bank of the Adriatic.
The Palazzo dei Portici
always overlooks the square, located on the right end of the street, and
has a neoclassical style, built in the first half of the 19th century,
and is divided into two parts by a string course frame. The base part
shows the porticoes with round arches, finished with projecting lines,
and eclectic style pilasters in the corner vertex between the main
street and the square. The other two floors, however, are occupied by
two orders of windows, the first of which is decorated with triangular
architraves, with the exception of the windows in the corner area, with
a curved tympanum, while the windows of the last order are simply
without a frame.
Urbani House
It is located overlooking
Piazzetta del Sole in the Santa Maria a Bitetto district. Presumably
dating back to the 11th century, it is one of the rare houses in Teramo
that preserve evidence of private construction dating back to the 11th -
13th century, as it is one of the few that escaped the destruction
carried out by the Norman Count of Loretello in the mid-12th
century[30]. It is made up of an external perimeter built with river
pebbles and a 13th century pointed portal in squared stone. During
recent restorations, in front of the portal, the remains of a mosaic
belonging to a private house on which the remains of the foundations of
the medieval house rest directly came to light. It is located in Vico
del Pensiero, near the Piazzetta del Sole.
Casa Catenacci and
former Corradi theatre
In via Vittorio Veneto, near Piazza Martiri
della Libertà, there is this medieval building dating back to the 14th
century which housed the city's first theatre, inaugurated in 1792. On
the porticoed façade of the building (via Vittorio Veneto) there is a
stone emblem dated 1510 with the warning inscription 'S.A. NON BENE PRO
TOTO LIBERTAS VENDITUR AURO' (Freedom cannot be sold for all the gold in
the world).
The façade has a portico with pointed arches in brick on
pillars, main portal in stone ashlars, with portals of later age, flat
architrave supported by brackets on the right side. On the first floor
there remains a window with stone frames and a flat architrave, the
other windows are from the 16th century, as is the lower loggia at the
left end.
It was restored by Giacomo Corradi between 1495 and 1511.
There are various reused elements such as a small twisted column and the
portico from the fourteenth century, when the house belonged to the
Corradis, then belonging to the Catenacci family from the sixteenth
century, whose coat of arms is found on a slab of the facade.
Medieval village and Della Monica Castle
Commonly known as Castello
Della Monica, it is a nineteenth-century reconstruction of a complex of
medieval-style buildings. Located on the small hill of San Venanzio, not
far from Piazza Garibaldi, the medieval village (begun in 1889 and
finished in 1917) was built by the Teramo artist Gennaro Della Monica,
from whom it borrowed the name. The main work, which stands out among
the other buildings, is the actual Castle, located in the highest area
of the complex.
The building has a partly neo-Gothic appearance,
partly Moorish and partly derived from a mixture of styles that markedly
characterize its appearance. Symbol of a style revival that also
manifested itself in other parts of Abruzzo, such as Vasto, Chieti and
Loreto Aprutino, the complex is made up of three secondary buildings
which, together with the main body, form a true medieval village,
organized in castles and civil houses with battlements and terraced
gardens. The castle was built over the ancient church of San Venanzio,
from which decorative materials were reused. The interior is full of
frescoes depicting rural and non-country landscapes, works by Della
Monica, who lived there until the end.
The main complex is preceded
by an entrance with a fake drawbridge with a control turret and a main
arch. The structure has a rectangular plan composed of three parts
divided by pillars on the façade; from the left to the base there are
two blind Gothic arches with a central niche decorated with a statue,
surmounted by a central mullioned window with balcony, flanked by other
niches with statues, in turn surmounted by further niches, ending with
the top decorated with battlements. The central portion at the base has
a Romanesque-Gothic portal with a lunette decorated with a bas-relief,
surmounted in the central axis by a mullioned window, while in the right
portion, on the same level, three Gothic mullioned windows decorate the
façade. The interior is also very rich in decadent decorations, which
demonstrate Della Monica's knowledge of the taste of Gothic castles and
English and French cathedrals.
After Della Monica's death in 1917,
the castle remained the property of her heirs, who partly lived in it
and partly rented it out. Vincenzo Bindi, a scholar of medieval
architecture from Abruzzo, proposed the acquisition of the site by the
municipality of Teramo to use it as a civic museum. The proposal,
however, was shelved, and a period of slow degradation of the structure
began, which peaked in the 1960s, when the site, once located outside
the urban building context, was suffocated by modern structures, which
obscured its ancient landscape impact.
Casa Delfico: elegant palace built in 1552, located in Corso San
Giorgio and was the private home of the historic Delfico family from
Teramo.
Civic Palace: dating back to the 14th century in the lower
loggia and 19th century in the upper part, it is the seat of the
municipal administration. In the atrium of the town hall, which can be
reached by crossing the portico, the most important stone inscriptions
from the Roman era found in the city are walled up. It overlooks Piazza
Orsini, in front of the porticoes of the bishop's palace.
Episcopal
Palace: built around 1374, this medieval building is the seat of the
offices of the Episcopal Curia, as well as being the bishop's residence.
Its main facade with a fourteenth-century loggia overlooks Piazza
Martiri della Libertà, next to the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta; in
the rear part, the thirteenth-century portico made up of stone and
travertine pillars from Civitella del Tronto is notable.
Psychiatric
hospital: an imposing structure, built in 1323, which hosted one of the
fathers of Italian psychiatry, Marco Levi Bianchini, who was a disciple
of Sigmund Freud and who founded the first Italian Society of
Psychoanalysis in these rooms: the Teramo hospital was considered the
largest in central-southern Italy for the treatment of mental illnesses.
In 1978 the law sanctioned the closure of the mental hospital
facilities, and therefore also of this large hospital.
Palazzo
Delfico: elegant eighteenth-century building home to the Melchiorre
Delfico regional library and equipped with a modern multipurpose room.
Palazzo Savini: located in Corso Cerulli, it is one of the most
important buildings in Teramo, built at the beginning of the nineteenth
century on the remains of the old prison, which in turn was built on the
ruins of a house from the Roman era, as evidenced by one of the most
significant finds that the city possesses, the Lion mosaic, which is
located in the basement of the palace.
"Melchiorre Delfico" classical
high school: named after the Enlightenment philosopher Melchiorre
Delfico, it is an institute that has its origins in the Royal College
opened in Teramo in 1813.
"Vincenzo Comi" technical institute:
imposing nineteenth-century building, founded on 17 December 1871 after
preparatory work begun in April 1869.
Prefecture Palace: built in the
Bourbon era, in 1827, by the engineer Carlo Forti, today it houses the
Prefecture of Teramo. It is located in Corso San Giorgio, facing Largo
San Matteo.
Palazzo Cerulli-Irelli: built at the beginning of the
twentieth century in Piazza Garibaldi, it rises above the remains (in a
small part still visible from the underpass of the square) of the Rocca
degli Acquaviva, dating back to the fifteenth century.
Palazzo
Castelli: former Casa Muzii (from the surname of the former owner) was
built in 1908 in Corso Cerulli, in front of Palazzo Savini, and is a
notable example of Liberty style.
Former Bank of Italy building:
elegant Art Nouveau building from the early twentieth century, where the
Bank of Italy had its headquarters.
Martyrs of Freedom Square
«Teramo came, after the villages and
lights of the valley; entering at night, when the officers of the
garrison and guardianship were already walking there with all the
people, and from the bar in the square, under the beautiful portico, you
could glimpse the boy in an Elysium of light turning ebony knobs at full
steam , around the nickel-plated cathedral of espressos..."
(Carlo
Emilio Gadda)
Piazza Martiri is the center of city life and
initially called Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, it is home to numerous
events throughout the year. Historic and monumental buildings overlook
it such as the cathedral, the Bishop's palace, the Seminary, the
building of the former Banco di Napoli and the Costantini palace with
the porticoes underneath (called Portici di Fumo). During the French
occupation of the 18th century, it was the place where the Tree of
Liberty was planted.
Piazza Sant'Anna
It has this title
because it dominates the church of Sant'Anna dei Pompetti[35]. Located
in the oldest area of the historic city centre, it takes its name from
the Church of Sant'Anna dei Pompetti, a small religious building built
on the remains of the ancient cathedral of Santa Maria Aprutiensis.
During the course of the year, numerous cultural and musical events
take place in this square: among others, the annual "La Villa Suite", a
musical event which for five years now has seen the participation of
more or less renowned artists national: in the 2009 edition Tonino
Carotone and Quintorigo took part, among others.
Piazza Orsini: this square has often changed its name over the years:
initially it was known as Piazza del Mercato following the city custom
which wanted it to be one of the main places for buying and selling
goods; subsequently it became Piazza del Municipio due to the presence
of one of the main buildings in the square, the town hall which, despite
the various transformations, has maintained its original location; it
later became Piazza Cavour and, at the end of the Second World War, took
on its current name. In addition to the Civic Palace, in this square the
main façade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta also stands out,
with its imposing size and its high bell tower, the elegant porticoes of
the Bishop's Palace and the characteristic Fountain of the Two Lions.
Largo Melatini: halfway between Corso De Michetti and Corso Cerulli
(called by the people of Teramo "Old Corso") opens the elegant Largo
Melatini where there are important historical buildings such as the
church of Sant'Antonio (13th century), the ancient church of San Luca,
the Portici Savini and the medieval Melatino palace, recently restored.
Piazza Dante Alighieri: another important place is Piazza Dante
Alighieri, where the Liceo Classico is located, founded in 1813 and
dedicated to the philosopher Melchiorre Delfico and the
fourteenth-century church of the Misericordia, today the Casa del
Mutilato. The square was inaccessible for approximately 18 months, from
2008 to 2010, due to the construction of an underground car park,
inaugurated on 6 February 2010.
Largo Madonna delle Grazie: in this
square, located in the immediate vicinity of Porta Reale, there are
notable testimonies of the history of Teramo: the Sanctuary of the
Madonna delle Grazie, an imposing religious building dating back to the
12th century and an archaeological site with the remains of a ancient
Roman domus and an industrial plant. All this is surrounded by a green
area named after the Teramo singer-songwriter Ivan Graziani.
Piazza
San Francesco, where the old Psychiatric Hospital overlooks. One of the
main city hubs: the Ragusa ring road connects the Piazza Garibaldi area
to the Madonna delle Grazie area. Here there is also the bus terminal
and the municipal offices.
Piazza Sant'Agostino with the 14th century
church of the same name.
Innocent IV in a writing from 1251 speaks of the valvas civitatis of
Teramo. The city gates were seven:
Porta Melatina: ancient gateway to
the city, dating back to the 14th century.
Porta Reale (called Porta
Madonna by the Teramo people because it is located near the Sanctuary of
the Madonna delle Grazie): honorary arch erected to welcome the visit of
Ferdinand I of Bourbon (first twenty years of the nineteenth century, it
was renovated in 1936 in rationalist style with the inscription of
"INTERAMNIA VRBS" on the architrave.
Porta delle Recluse: the name
derives from the presence of the adjacent psychiatric hospital. It is
located next to the Porta Melatina.
Porta Carrese (no longer exists):
where this ancient entrance gate once stood, a small portion of the
ancient city walls and a small defensive bastion remain.
Due di Coppe
(formerly Porta San Giorgio, demolished at the beginning of the 19th
century): it led from Piazza Garibaldi to Corso San Giorgio, it was
rebuilt in 1826 in monumental style, with two jambs surmounted by two
monumental vases with cups, from which the first name. In 1929 it was
demolished again forever, and the vases transferred to the Villa
Comunale.
Porta Romana (no longer exists): already disappeared since
the nineteenth century, it led from the west to Corso di Porta Romana.
Porta del Querceto (or della Quercia): it was located at the end of the
Via dello Spirito Santo.
Ponte degli Impiccati: built towards the end of the 12th century, it
has the surviving arch in Civitella travertine; it had the prerogative
of being the site of hangings: the gallows were placed on it and
sentences were carried out.
Ponte degli Stucchi: remains of a
medieval bridge from the 12th century, with arches in Civitella
travertine.
Ponte San Ferdinando: in 1833 work began on the
construction of this bridge, designed by the engineer. Teramo Carlo
Forti, and finished in 1847. It is the oldest city bridge among those
still in use and is remembered by many as the "Miracle Bridge", as it
escaped the explosion of German mines during their retreat in the last
phase of the Second War world. It underwent a restoration in the early
2000s.
Roman statue of Sor Paolo Proconsole: ancient togated statue of a
powerful Roman patrician, dating back to the 1st century BC.
Statue
of Maternity, work of the sculptor Venanzo Crocetti, in Piazza Orsini.
Statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi, in Piazza Madonna delle Grazie in front of
Porta Reale.
The group of statues dedicated to the "Fallen of all
wars" by Venanzo Crocetti, in viale Mazzini.
The group of busts
dedicated to illustrious local figures in Viale Mazzini.
Fonte della Noce, from the medieval era. According to tradition, the
water from this source, if drunk, would make one fall in love with the
city and practically incapable of breaking away from it.
Milk Source:
ancient fountain located on the path that went up from Vezzola towards
the highest hamlets of the Teramo municipality, known because its water
increased the production of milk in mothers giving birth.
Fountain of
the Two Lions: created by the sculptor Pasquale Morganti towards the end
of the 19th century, it was placed to decorate a pillar in the loggia of
the Municipal Palace in Piazza Orsini and consists of a sculptural group
of two lions between rocks representing the two rivers that they contain
the historic center of Teramo, the Tordino and the Vezzola. Water flows
between the two lions and collects in an oval basin, placed on top of
other rocks and raised by two steps. High above the rocks are the city's
coat of arms and a plaque with the following inscription:
«Eternal
love of freedom against sinister German ferocity in the betrayal of the
fugitive leaders on 25-26-27 September 1943 in Bosco Martese in victory
and martyrdom the insurgents of the Teramo area once again affirmed a
warning to tyrants and servants of the people and the municipality on 25
September 1952»
Fountain of Piazza Garibaldi (no longer exists):
also called the fasci fountain, it was built in 1936 and then partially
dismantled in 1947. The fountain continued to remain "undressed" until
the early 2000s, when it was demolished.
Mastrodascio Sphere:
fountain built by Silvio Mastrodascio in 2004, originally located in
Piazza Garibaldi to replace the old fountain until 2008, when it was
removed to create the Hypogeum. However, in 2011 the fountain was placed
in the Porta Romana rotunda.
“Picette” fountain: originally called
the “a lo Trocco” fountain. It offered drinking water from a large
spring in Villa Mosca which ran a long distance and reached the fountain
currently located in Viale Crispi.
Fontana delle Piccine (no longer
extant): a late nineteenth-century work by the sculptor and painter from
Teramo Luigi Cavacchioli (1856-1936), it was commissioned by an American
lady eager to have her Junoesque breasts immortalized in stone. The
fountain was placed in via Carducci (formerly Vico De' Ponti and Vico
Del Burro), under an arch of the Delphic garden; during the war it was
closed by a brick curtain, which was subsequently demolished by the
people eager to bring the fountain back to light. Finally it was
definitively demolished with the destruction of the garden at the end of
the 1950s.
Fountain of the "Grasselle" (no longer existing): circular
fountain built in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (today Piazza Martiri della
Libertà) shortly after the opening of the new aqueduct (1898),
contemptuously renamed "fountain of the grasselle" (i.e. of the frogs)
by "Centrale" reporter Luigi Medori, who led the battle of public
opinion that led to its dismantling in 1903.
Torre Bruciata: square-shaped Roman bastion dating back to the 2nd
century BC. Called "burnt" because it still shows traces of the
devastating fire suffered by the city at the hands of the Normans in
1150. Its function was to defend the Episcope.
Cathedral Tower:
structure annexed to the Cathedral and symbol of the City itself. On its
top, until 7 October 2011, there was the old municipal anti-aircraft
siren. The last restoration dates back to the first months of 2019.
Tower of Casa Bonolis: remains of the tower of the medieval Casa Bonolis
in Via Irelli.
Roman theatre: in the historic center of Teramo there are the remains
of the Roman theatre; scholars date its construction to the 2nd century
AD. and is considered the best preserved of all the theaters in the
Piceno area. It is a few meters from the Roman Amphitheater, an almost
unique case in the world. For years citizens and associations have
fought to obtain the recovery of the archaeological site, which is still
struggling to begin.
Roman amphitheater: remains of the Roman
amphitheater, dating back to the 1st century AD.
Necropolis of Ponte
Messato: in the Cona district there is the archaeological park of Ponte
Messato where a Roman road and tombs are visible. Of pre-Roman origin
and enlarged in the Roman period, it develops on the sides of the
ancient paved road, surrounded by monuments, also called via sacra
d'Interamnia by some (with the necessary proportions a sort of Teramo
Appian Way due to the analogies with the via Appia Antica near Rome).
Domus and Mosaic of the Lion: among the emblems of the archaeological
history of Teramo is the mosaic, discovered in 1891 during the
construction works of Palazzo Savini in Corso Cerulli. Intended to
enrich the floor of a patrician domus (Domus del Leone), the Lion Mosaic
can be dated around the 1st century BC, as are those, similar in
workmanship, found in Pompeii and in Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. It has
been universally recognized as one of the finest examples of mosaic art.
Archaeological site of Torre Bruciata: in Piazza Sant'Anna, next to the
church of the same name, there are the remains of a sumptuous Roman
villa dating back to the 1st century BC.
Archaeological site of Largo
Madonna delle Grazie: remains of Roman houses from the Augustan age and
an industrial plant.
Domus of Vico delle Ninfe: remains of an ancient
mosaic floor, dating back to the first centuries AD.
Tordino del Vezzola river parks
In the bed of each of the two
rivers that surround the historic center of the city, a river park with
cycle and pedestrian paths has been created: that of the Tordino park is
approximately four kilometers long, while that of the Vezzola park is
approximately two kilometres. The two parks are connected to each other
by a double-arched wooden bridge, and upstream the route crosses the
woods in the castle district, overcoming a difference in height of
several tens of metres.
The green area named
after the Teramo singer-songwriter Ivan Graziani is located outside
Porta Reale; in the park there are archaeological sites and a monument
to the resistance by the artist Augusto Murer.
Outside the
ancient walls there is the park of the Villa Comunale, designed between
1882 and 1884 by Ernesto Narcisi.
In 1969,
with the aim of isolating the architecture of the Teramo cathedral, the
Arch of Monsignore, a connection between the cathedral itself and the
bishop's palace, was demolished.
In 1941 the baroque church of
San Matteo in Corso San Giorgio was demolished, while in 1959, in the
same area, the municipal theater from 1868, designed by Nicola
Mezucelli, was demolished. A further demolition in the historic centre,
which underwent numerous interventions of this type in those years, was
that of the Credito Abruzzese building in the mid-1950s, a neo-Gothic
style building which was designed by Alfonso De Albentiis in 1925.
By plane
Pescara Airport (Abruzzo International Airport), Via
Tiburtina Km 229.100 (About 50 km), ☎ +39 085 4324201. edit
Ancona
airport
By car
A24 Rome - Teramo motorway
A14 Milan - Bari
motorway, exit Mosciano Sant'Angelo
State road 80-junction, which
connects Teramo to the Teramo - Giulianova - Mosciano Sant'Angelo
motorway exit on the A14 Adriatica motorway
Gran Sasso State Road 80
State Road 81 Piceno Aprutina connects Teramo with the city of Ascoli
Piceno
On the train
Teramo station, which connects the city
with Giulianova station (and other coastal towns such as Roseto degli
Abruzzi, Pineto, Silvi, Pescara) where it crosses the major north -
south connection lines of the Adriatic ridge.
By bus
The city
can be reached thanks to the bus lines managed by the TUA company.
Typical dishes of the area include: mazzarelle, scrippelle 'mbusse,
spaghetti alla guitar, timballo and virtue, a Teramo dish that is
prepared in May.
Vino cotto is a sweet wine from Teramo.
Average prices
Ristorante i Tigli, Viale Mazzini, ☎ +39 0861 241043.
Gran Sasso Restaurant, Via Vinciguerra, 12, ☎ +39 0861 245747.
Duomo
Restaurant, Via Irelli, ☎ +39 0861 241774, info@ristoranteduomo.com.
Pizzeria La Cantinetta, Piazza Verdi, 4, ☎ +39 0861 248375.
Average prices
Hotel Abruzzi, Viale Giuseppe Mazzini, 18 (Three
stars), ☎ +39 0861 241043.
Gran Sasso, Via Luigi Vinciguerra, 12
(Three stars), ☎ +39 0861 245747.
Michelangelo, Viale A. de Paulis
Fedele, 9 (Three stars), ☎ +39 0861 413668.
Bed and Breakfast
Amphitheater, go Vincenzo Irelli 35, ☎ +39 340 0886080, fax: +39 0861
240655.
Erica and Martina, Via G. Celli, 15, ☎ +39 0861 412570.
Antica Interamnia, Via Dei Mosaici 12, ☎ +39 0861 413445.
La Casa di
Rose, Vico dei Mosaici, 9, ☎ +39 389 7862496.
Oasi Verde, Via
Evangelista, 15, ☎ +39 0861 410395.
Post office
Italian Post Office (Teramo central post office), Via
Giacomo Paladini 42, ☎ +39 0861 323601.
Poste Italiane (Agency 1),
Viale Bovio 95, ☎ +39 0861 257931.
Poste Italiane (Agency 2), Via Noè
Lucidi 25, ☎ +39 0861 248882.
Poste Italiane (Agency 3), Via Giacomo
Pannella 43, ☎ +39 0861 239834.
Poste Italiane (Agency 4), Via Cona
102, ☎ +39 0861 240235.
Poste Italiane (Agenzia 5), Piazza Rishon
Lezion 2, ☎ +39 0861 412486.
Teramo is located in the northern part of Abruzzo,
in the Val Tordino, in a hilly area under the slopes of the Gran
Sasso, which slopes down towards the coast with a rich vegetation of
vineyards and olive groves.
The city rises at the confluence
of the Tordino river with the Vezzola torrent that surround its
historic center.
The territory of Teramo borders to the north
with Campli and Bellante, to the east with Canzano, to the south
with Cermignano, Penna Sant'Andrea, Basciano and Montorio al Vomano
and to the west with Cortino and Torricella Sicura.
In the
seismic classification of civil protection it is identified as Zone
2, i.e. an area with medium seismicity, while in the climatic
classification it is marked as Zone D.
Being
located in a deep basin, the climate is of a semi-continental
temperate type, transitional between the Mediterranean-hilly one -
typical of the coast of the province, as well as of the Pescara and
Chieti area - and the purely continental mountain - typical of
Aquila and its province. . Therefore, temperatures in the coldest
month, January, are around 5.5 ° C, while in the hottest month,
July, around 25 ° C, with a range of almost 20 ° C. Precipitation is
around 800 mm per year and is mainly concentrated in early autumn
(September-October).
In winter, snow can fall abundantly, as
evidenced both by January 2005 and, above all, by the most recent
episodes of February 2012 and January 2017. Given its position in
the heart of a low valley, in summer, episodes of heat are not rare
intense and stagnant heat.
It probably
had the name of Petrut from the Phoenicians, with the meaning of
"high place surrounded by water". From the Latinization of Petrut in
Praetut then came Praetutium and Ager Praetutianus to indicate the
territory.
The Romans called it Interamnia Urbs ("city
between the two rivers", with reference to Tordino and Vezzola), and
it was called Praetutium, or Praetutiorum or simply Praetutia to
distinguish it from Interamna Nahars (Terni), Interamnia Lirinos
(the disappearance of Teramo on the Liri) and Interamnia di
Capitanata (now Termoli). In the administrative division of the
territory promoted by the emperor Augustus, Interamnia was included
in the "V Regio", the Piceno.
In medieval times, Aprutium
derived from Praetutium, which appeared in documents of the sixth
century and which for some time, until about the twelfth century,
would have designated both the city, the Castrum aprutiense, and the
surrounding territory to then extend to the entire Abruzzo.
The name Interamnia was transformed instead into Interamne, Teramne
and Interamnium, Teramnium to finally reach the form Teramum at the
beginning of the 2nd century AD.
The hypothesis of numerous
historians is therefore founded that the name of the Abruzzo region
derives precisely from Aprutium, also for the importance that the
county of the same name had, attested above all in the Catalogus
Baronum for the extension and number of armed sub-feudal lords in
the service of the Counts de Aprutio during the Norman period.
On the other hand, the theory according to which the name Teramo
would have derived from Thermae, with relation to the ascertained
presence of important spas in various areas of the city, and which
referred to both the aspiration "Theramum" found in some codes and
the use of the local dialect that contracts the pronunciation of the
name of Teramo in “Terme”.
Populated since ancient times, the
territory corresponding to today's city was the main center of the
Italic population of the Pretuzi. Later, it was conquered by the
Roman consul Manio Curio Dentato in 290 BC. (five years after the
battle of Sentino), thus becoming a municipality of republican Rome.
Having then, like many other Italian regions, actively took part
in the Social War (91-88 BC), Lucio Cornelio Silla thus deprived it
of its status as a municipality, which was later returned to it by
Caesar.
As the capital of the Pretutium, it was included in
the V regio by Augustus: the Picenum. Under the imperial rule it
experienced a period of great prosperity, testified by the
construction, under Hadrian, of temples, baths and theaters.
Plundered and razed to the ground by the Visigoths in 410, it was
re-founded in 568, later it was conquered by the Lombards, becoming
part of the marquisate of Fermo and then of the duchy of Spoleto. In
the meantime, an autonomous county developed, called County
Aprutium, dependent on the Kingdom of Naples, but with full
authority in the surrounding area, excluding the Duchy of Atri. It
entered, as early as 1140, to be part of the kingdom of Sicily under
Ruggero, and then subsequently became the "Porta Regni" of the
kingdom of Naples.
Contended between the Normans and the
Dukes of Puglia, Teramo was almost destroyed in 1155 but recovered
again and, under the bishop's domination, enjoyed a period of
relative prosperity testified by the construction of the new
cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. In fact, the historic Cathedral of
Santa Maria Aprutiensis was destroyed with the Norman sack, as well
as the old bell tower of the Torre Bruciata, which took this name in
memory of the great fire. From 1202 to 1292 the city experienced a
fairly prosperous period, and the walls and the construction of
churches were enlarged, including today's Sant'Antonio. In 1233
Frederick II of Swabia included Teramo in the nascent "Giustizierato
d'Abruzzo", inserting it in the portion of Abruzzo Citra.
During the Angevin dominion, Teramo experienced a period of
splendor; the lords of the aprutina diocese, the bishops Rainaldo
Acquaviva, Niccolò degli Arcioni (1317), Stefano da Teramo (1335)
and Pietro di Valle (1366), rebuilt the city, which acquired
castles, villages and, above all, great privileges granted by the
sovereigns , with which churches, convents and palaces were built;
it was in this period that the Teramo building awakening was
accentuated to a greater extent. More than to private homes, the
aims of the magistrates and citizens were directed to public
buildings of a civic and religious character, both in the context of
the old land and in that of the new land;
The construction of
the bell tower of S. Antonio in Teramo dates back to 1309;
Since 1323, a well-deserving citizen, Bartolomeo di Zalfone, rebuilt
and enlarged the hospital that was said to be of Sant'Antonio abate.
In 1362 the construction of Palazzo Melatino began for the
affirmation to power of the homonymous family. Starting from 1395 it
underwent the dominion of the Duchy of Atri, from when the count of
S. Flaviano, Antonio Acquaviva, was appointed Duke of Atri and lord
of Teramo. However, a series of negative events, culminating in the
earthquake of 1380, the infighting between the Melatini family and
the De Valle family and the brigandage led the city to a profound
decline, from which it neither recovered nor under the domination of
the lords of 'Altavilla nor under the later ones of the French and
Spaniards.
In 1456, a strong earthquake damaged the city, as
the historian Muzio Muzii reports.
In 1504, together with Atri, it came into possession of the domain of Queen Giovanna of Naples. At his death it passed to Charles V of Habsburg. Soon the heated rivalry between Teramani and Atriani exploded and on November 17, 1521 the Acquavivas besieged the city. In this century Teramo began to experience a new period of cultural development, thanks above all to the historian Muzio Muzii, who in his Dialogues wrote about the terrible Teramo plague of the mid-sixteenth century. In 1589 the Facij brothers set up the first printing house in Teramo and published the treatise: Descrittione del sacro monte di Varale di val di Sesia. Above which you can see, as in vna noua Jerusalem, the tomb of the n.s. Giesu Christo, & many other places, in imitation of the Holy Land, with infinite figures, statues, & beautiful paintings. With the mysteries made a short time ago, it is order and sum, which contains at the same time what still has to be done.
1703 and subsequent ones up to 1706 were very hard for the city. In fact, the terrible earthquake in L'Aquila in 1703 also caused damage to Teramo, aggravated by poverty and by a new wave of epidemic, this time of cholera. So writes Niccola Palma in his History of Teramo:
"and finally the tremor was added. This began to make itself felt in December 1702, and to ingest apprehension for the disasters already caused in the Principato ultra and in the County of Molise. But from the two hours of the previous night to January 14 until February 2, 1703, at 6 pm, the shaking was so violent that some buildings collapsed, and others were mistreated. We have seen two of them in Chap. LXV and others in large numbers can still be seen today in the engraving 1703 made on tiles, reinforcement walls and renovated roofs. Leaving the houses, everyone was reduced to spending the cold nights of that season in tents. This is why from January 14 to February 2, at two o'clock in the night, the bells are rung in Campli, and each family falls on their knees to pray to the Lord, so that he may keep away a similar scourge: and in Teramo on February 2 masks are suspended , parties and theater."
During the Italian conquest of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798,
L'Aquila and Teramo were cruelly plundered. The French did not spare
even the bells of the Cathedral, melting them for the cannons and
scarring them with bayonet discharges. On July 28, 1799 there were
new earthquakes, and the fact that the citizens of San Berardo had
pleaded in the cathedral for the arrest of new tremors and these did
not subsequently occur, was reported in the historical work by
Angelo De Iacobis, historian of the city.
In 1799 there was
the seizure of power by the Fontana brothers. The story of the
Fontana brothers is narrated both by the historian Niccola Palma and
by the contemporary priest Carlo Januarii. Leaving from Penne to go
to Teramo, they arrived having hundreds of rioters in tow at the
gates of the capital, where their son Carlo challenged the De
Donatis by aiming at him a cannon placed in Corso San Giorgio and,
after he had abandoned the city, governing it until the arrival of
General Rodio.
In 1806, following the division of the
Province of Abruzzo Ultra, Teramo became the capital of the newly
established province of Abruzzo Ultra I, while L'Aquila remained the
capital of the province of Abruzzo Ultra II. Teramo continued to be
the provincial capital even after, in 1816, the kingdom of Naples
(following the Congress of Vienna), assumed the name of the kingdom
of the Two Sicilies. It followed the fate of the latter state until
1860, the year in which the Piedmontese-Savoyard troops, crossed the
border of the Tronto river, penetrated, without a declaration of
war, into the territory of the Kingdom and defeated the Bourbon
army. This revolt was annihilated with the siege of Civitella del
Tronto on March 20, 1861. Subsequently, in 1861, the Unification of
Italy was proclaimed.
In 1832 there was the visit of King
Ferdinand II of Naples. The end of the century was marked by several
earthquakes between Abruzzo and the Marches, without serious damage.
In the nineteenth century the city had the historians and essayists
Melchiorre Delfico and Francesco Savini at the cultural level, who
worked hard to preserve the immense cultural heritage of the city
and its surroundings.
In 1927 the
Mussolini government created the current province, dividing the
territory of the former duchy of Atri (included in the province),
and the strip of land of the former District of Penne, which passed
to the flourishing city of Pescara. This also obtained the then tiny
village of Montesilvano, while Silvi Alta was ceded to Teramo, which
held the territorial administration up to the borders of Valle
Castellana, Martinsicuro and Campotosto. In 1963, with the formation
of the Abruzzo region, Teramo will be one of the 4 provincial
capitals.
On 25 September 1943, German troops arrived in
Teramo go to Bosco Martese where they will clash with the men of the
Resistance who have taken refuge there; the episode is remembered as
the "battle of Bosco Martese", one of the first episodes of the
Resistance in Italy.
During the years of the government of
the Christian Democrats, the mayor Carino Gambacorta distinguished
himself, who worked for a massive plan to rehabilitate and modernize
the city. However, these interventions today have been criticized
for the numerous demolitions of historic buildings, such as the
Municipal Theater (19th century) in 1959 for the construction of the
Standa and various medieval and public buildings in the city, and
especially in the Santa Maria a Bitetto district, being replaced
from modern buildings of little artistic value. In 1993 the
University of Teramo was born, a branch of the Gabriele d'Annunzio
University of Chieti, founded in 1965.