Pacentro is a comune of 1,279 inhabitants of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is a well-preserved historic medieval village located in central Italy, several kilometers from the City of Sulmona about east of Rome. It is a member of the I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy") association.
Geography
Pacentro lies in the Apennine Mountain Range on a plateau consisting of small hills above sea level. The castle sits on one hill (Colle Castello) at one end of town and the other hill (Colle San Marco) is where the old Church of S. Marco used to sit. The town is just below Mount Morrone and right above the Peligna Valley (Conca Peligna) and the City of Sulmona. Pacentro is part of the Majella National Park (Parco Nazionale della Majella) and is renowned for its springs and fresh mountain water that comes from the snow of the Majella.
History
The village has documented origins back to the 8th or 9th centuries, but the area was known as a mountain retreat since Roman times.
Pacentro is one of several towns in the area with a medieval castle due to its position at the entrance of the strategic San Leonardo mountain pass to Pescara. The original castle was controlled by the Counts of Valva. There are writings of the era that mention a certain "Gualterio, son of Manerio, Count of Valva", who lived in the Castle of Pacentro in 1130. The castle in its current form dates from the 10th century and was built by the Cantelmo lords. It is partially ruined but is still preserved with three of the four towers mostly intact. The castle was sold by the Cipriani-Avolio family to the town government in 1957. It has recently been restored and can be visited as a tourist attraction (limited times). Another resident of Pacentro was Pope Celestine V. This pope, originally known as Pietro da Morrone, was a 13th-century monk-hermit of the Benedictine order who lived in a cave in the nearby mountains and was renowned for his holiness. He was elected pope by acclamation in L'Aquila in 1294, but was the only pope to resign after a reign lasting only several months. His image can be seen on a medieval fresco in a lunette on the facade of the Church of San Marcello in Pacentro.
Through its history, the town was successively in the feudal domain of several powerful families. Jacopo Caldora and his son Antonio controlled Pacentro from the late 13th century until the defeat of the Angevin Kings of Naples in mid-15th century. The Neapolitan branch of the Orsini family took control in 1483 and as allies of the Aragonese Kings, they were wealthy enough to extensively remodel the castle and expand the town. For the brief period of 1613–1624, Capitano Barone Antonio Domenico De Sanctis ruled Pacentro. However, due to insolvency, his feudal domain was dismembered and sold off to creditors. In 1626, the Colonna family purchased the fief and added Count of Pacentro to their many titles. In 1664 Maffeo Barberini purchased Pacentro from the Colonna (the family of his mother, Anna Colonna). Maffeo's granddaughter Cornelia was the heir to the Barberini estate as the male line had died out. When she married Giulio Cesare Colonna di Sciarra in 1728, the two houses were united as the Barberini Colonna di Sciara family. By the mid-18th century, financial reasons caused the Barberini to sell the fief to marquis Francesco Recupito di Raiano, whose family lost their feudal rights with the abolition of feudalism by King Joseph Bonaparte in 1806. The local nobility and gentry often controlled most local affairs while their masters generally remained in Rome, Naples or L'Aquila. An example of this is the 17th-century nobleman, Orazio Rossi, who was Luogotenente (or Lieutenant) of the Marchese Recupito di Raiano. Pacentro was also united politically with the nearby towns of Cansano and Campo di Giove for much of the 18th and early 19th century due to their common ownership by the same Feudal Lord.
20th-century history
The town reached its peak of growth and prosperity just prior to World War I. In World War II this area of Abruzzo was directly affected by some of the most intense warfare of the Italian Campaign. On the other side of the peaks of the Majella from Pacentro, was the German Gustav Line. Many of the towns near the German defenses were bombed or destroyed, but Pacentro's geographic position of being tucked into a mountain pass preserved it from aerial bombardment.