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ROCCARASO

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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

Roccaraso, in the province of L'Aquila, is located on the southwestern side of the Maiella National Park at an elevation of 1700 feet; its population is 1668 inhabitants.  Today the town is noted for its skiing and is the most important winter resort in south central Italy.  Particularly popular is the Aremogna ski slope, where a cable car rises from the Plain of Aremogna to an elevation of 6400 feet. In 1950, during construction in the section of the town known as Pantano, an Italic tomb was discovered, indicating that the area was settled in ancient times by an italic tribe known as the Caraceni, possibly as a summer grazing place for their sheep.  The present-day town has its roots in the late medieval period as a possession of the monastery of Santa Maria di Cinquemiglia, a monastery which is mentioned in the records of the Abbey of San Vincenzo al Volturno in the year 819.  The area had been attacked by the Saracens, and as a result a small castle and defensive wall were built at Roccaraso.  The monastery of Santa Maria di Cinquemiglia built a small church near the fortress, dedicated to San Nicola di Bari. This formed a nucleus around which the village then developed, populated initially by the vassals of the abbot of the monastery, Guglielmo II.  At that time, the little church of San Nicola at Roccaraso, like all those belonging to the monastery, was not allowed to administer the sacrament of baptism, and it was not allowed to have a cemetery.  For baptisms and burials, the people had to travel to the monastery, which was a hardship, especially in winter.  In the 13th century the people protested to the Bishop of Valva, and the church of Roccaraso was made a full parish church with the right to provide all the sacraments. Most of the old town was destroyed in World War II.  The few ancient remains include ruins of the castle, a tower, the little church of S. Rocco, built after the plague in the 1600s, and in the present-day parish church there is a late 16th century silver bust of S. Ippolito.

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