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PRATOLA PELIGNA

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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

Pratola Peligna, in the province of L'Aquila, has a population of about 8000.  It is located on the western slopes of the Maiella on a hill in the middle of the Peligna valley, at an elevation of 1100 feet.  The town is situated in the area where the ancient civilization of the Peligni, an Italic people, once flourished. The first recorded mention of present-day Pratola Peligna is in a record from the year 997 A.D.  The town's history is linked to that of the Celestine monastic order.  In 1294 the town, then known as Castrum Pratulae, was ceded to the Celestine monks of the Morronese Abbey at Sulmona, and it remained under their control until 1807, when the religious order was supressed by Napoleon I, who also abolished the baronies and what remained of feudalism. The town was the birthplace of a follower of Garibaldi, a Captain Ortia Ortensi, who armed and clothed a force of men at his own expense in 1867 to go and fight at Monterotondo and Mentana. The town has an imposing church, the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Libera (see photos, bottom row).  The sanctuary was built between 1851 and 1860, with the present facade dating from the 1920s.  It was built on the site of a 16th century chapel where a "miraculous" fresco of the Madonna was venerated; the fresco was preserved and is in the new church.   Also preserved in this church is a 16th century group of terracotta figures, "Il Compianto di Cristo."  "Il Museo della Civilta Contadina," the Museum of Peasant Life," is located in a mill building that was built by the Celestine monks in 1400.  The museum displays the tools and objects that were part of the everyday life of the peasant farmers, and it is well worth a visit. Click Here for a website with many wonderful photos of Pratola Peligna, old and new and showing traditions.  And Click Here for an Italian website that gives the history and traditions of the town and has photos of the main points of interest.

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