Abruzzo - Amordivino

Abruzzo

Population: 1.276.040
Surface (Kmq): 10795
Density (Inhabitants/Kmq.): 118
Main City: L'Aquila (AQ)
Other towns: Chieti (CH); Pescara (PE); Teramo (TE).

Abruzzo, where the north of Italy meets the south, is one of the most unspoilt and beautiful regions in the country. Bordered by the Apennines to the west and fringed by the Adriatic on the east, it has some of Italy’s most unspoiled scenery. In the Gran Sasso it has the highest mountain of the Apennine range. From the top of the Gran Sasso it is possible to see both the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian (Mediterranean) Seas, across the entire width of Italy.
This region boasts an attractive coastline: flat with golden beaches from Martinsicuro to Francavilla, it suddenly turns rocky with cliffs, bays and little harbours from San Vito to Vasto.
You could journey through the Abruzzo’s valleys for days, never encountering another person, and when you travel up to the broad mountain plains of the Abruzzi, you’ll meet the eerie sight of entire abandoned hill towns.

This area of Italy was already inhabited in pre-Roman times by the pre-Indo-European culture of the Piceni and subsequently by various Italic tribes. Known in ancient times as Samnium, the name was changed in the Middle Ages to Aprutium. In the 12th century the emperor Frederick the 1st named the region Listitieratu Aprutii and made it part of the Kingdom of Southern Italy, a political entity that, despite many difficulties, maintained its own identity until 1860. L’Aquila, the current regional capital, was probably founded in 1254 to sustain an anti-imperial uprising in the western part of the region.
The Kingdom of Southern Italy passed from Spain to Austria and, in 1735, became the property of the French Bourbons. When Napoleon assumed power, his brother-in-law Joachim Murat became the King of Southern Italy. The poet Gabriele Rossetti from Vasto was appointed Secretary of Public Education in the administration of the kingdom. Rossetti later lived in exile in London, where his son, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, became a well-known painter and was one of the founders of the pre-Raphaelite movement.
The Kingdom of Southern Italy came to an end in 1860 following Garibaldi's victorious campaign that united modern Italy. Abruzzo was then joined with Molise into a single region known as Abruzzi e Molise, but they were split again in 1963. The united Italian government continued and expanded civil works started by the Bourbons, such as draining the Lake Fucino creating 140 sq km of excellent agricultural land. In addition, new railways and highways were built, and in 1923 the national Park of Abruzzi was established protecting an area of 400 sq km as a local habitat sanctuary. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Adriatic coast saw the birth of a new industry-based economy which, along with tourism, provided a much needed stable economy for the local population.