Lettopalena

OTHER TOWNS

LETTOPALENA

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OTHER TOWNS MAP

PARK TOWNS
Abbateggio
Ateleta
Bolognano
Campo di Giove
Cansano
Caramanico Terme
Civitella M. R.
Corfinio
Fara San Martino
Gamberale
Guardiagrele
Lama dei Peligni
Lettopalena
Manoppello
Montenerodomo
Pacentro
Palena
Palombaro
Pennapiedimonte
Pescocostanzo
Pizzoferrato
Popoli
Pratola Peligna
Pretoro
Rapino
Rivisondoli
Roccacasale
Rocca Pia
Roccaraso
Salle
Sant' Eufemia
San Valentino Serramonacesca
Sulmona
Taranta Peligna
Tocco da Casauria

NEARBY TOWNS
Alanno
Cepagatti
Cugnoli
Nocciano
Pietranico
Roccamontepiano
Rosciano
Scafa
Turrivalignani

This photo is from a webpage at profesnet.it

Lettopalena, in the province of Chieti, is located near the Aventino River on the eastern slopes of the Maiella at an elevation of 2200 feet, surrounded by woods and fields. The town has a population of only 430 inhabitants, but this number doubles and triples in the summer, when domestic tourists visit the mountains to escape the heat. The land here is very fertile and produces grain, grapes and olives, although on a small scale. Stone quarrying was once done here, but the quarry has been inactive for 10 years or more.

This area has been occupied since ancient times. Numerous traces of the Italic tribe known as the Peligni have been found here, in the form of names and inscriptions in stone. The town dates back to the medieval era; it grew on the banks of the Aventino, as a result of the 11th century Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria di Monteplanizio, located across the river(photo above right). The first mention of the town in written records is in the 11th century. By 1500 A.D. Lettopalena had become a walled town with two gates.

The old medieval town is now gone, completely destroyed during WWII. In 1943 the Germans, who occupied Italy, were retreating from the advance of the Allied troops. The Germans arrived in Lettopalena on October 11, 1943, and the SS immediately registered all the able-bodied men of the town, to put them to work building fortifications--part of the "Gustav Line"--against the Allies. An order was given that the town would be destroyed when the fortifications were completed. The people abandoned the town, which was indeed destroyed on November 19th and 20th by German mines. The ancient medieval village was no more. Not even the Abbey of Santa Maria di Monteplanizio was spared.

Three months later, in February of 1944, about 200 Lettopalenesi tried to return to their destroyed homes. Heedless of the danger and the presence of the Germans, they took temporary shelter in the remains of the town, taking advantage of every cave, stone hut and haystack. The German soldiers discovered them, rounded them up and took them to Palena, where they were jailed for four days.

When they were released it was four o'clock in the morning, and snow, which had covered the countryside in a deep blanket, continued to fall heavily. On foot and escorted by armed guards, the group set out toward the town of Rocca Pia. On the road they suffered extreme cold and fatigue and encountered death; during the long hours of the march, children were the first to die. The group arrived at Rocca Pia at midnight; fifteen of their number had died along the way during the 20 hour march through extreme cold and snow.

The people of Rocca Pia were very generous toward the survivors, and in 1994 the people of Lettopalena errected a plaque at Rocca Pia, in memory of that kindness. After the war, the Lettopalenesi rebuilt their town, not on its original site but rather a little higher on the mountainside, and they recreated the abbey church of Santa Maria di Monteplanizio to look as it had originally.

The absence of ancient monuments and landmarks in this village, and in many other Abruzzese towns, is silent testimony to the immense suffering that these people endured, and to the courage they displayed.

Manoppello

Lama dei Peligni