7 Iconic Buildings to Explore in Abruzzo

The basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio is a religious building of the Aquila , located just outside the city ​​walls , on the homonymous hill. Founded in 1288 at the behest of Pietro da Morrone - crowned pope here with the name of Celestino V on 29 August 1294 - it is considered the highest expression of Abruzzo architecture , as well as the symbol of the city and was declared a national monument in 1902.

The hermitage of San Domenico is a small church, located in the territory of the municipality of Villalago, in the Sagittario valley, on the shore of the homonymous Lake of San Domenico. It includes a cave dug into the limestone, in which according to tradition, around the year 1000 the Benedictine monk San Domenico lived.

Oratory of San Pellegrino is located in Bominaco, a hamlet not far from Caporciano, in the province of L’Aquila. It was probably commissioned by Abbott Teodino in 1263 – as attested by the inscription on the back wall of the structure – and was dedicated to martyr Saint Peregrine. This Romanesque-style building actually has inner walls covered in wonderful frescoes, considered amongst the most representative of Medieval Gothic style, at par with the ones in the nearby church of Santa Maria ad C

The d'Avalos palace is located in Vasto, in the province of Chieti, once the residence of the Marquises of Vasto, until 1806. According to some hypotheses, its origin is medieval, but certain data are lacking, however, the first mention is in an act reported by the seventeenth-century chronicler Nicola Alfonso Viti who mentions the leader Giacomo Caldora, the feudal lord of Vasto, who in 1427 sanctions an indemnity for the Augustinian friars since he himself used part of their vegetable garden o

Castello Piccolomini is a Middle Ages-Renaissance castle in Balsorano, Province of L'Aquila. The castle was built by Antonio Piccolomini, nephew of pope Pius II, in 1460. Now it is a hotel and it has been used as a location for several Italian films. It has an irregular pentagonal plan with circular towers at each corner. The building is in stone and the main entrance is through the surrounding park. The internal courtyard is L shaped with a well in the middle.

Rocca Calascio was initially built as a watchtower in the 10th century or earlier, the fortress developed in size and complexity over a period of time, particularly in the 14th century under Leonello de Acclozemora, and subsequently the Medici family in the late 16th century. Built of stone and masonry exclusively for military purposes and intended only to accommodate troops and never as a residence for nobles, the fortress overlooks the Plain of Navelli at one of the highest points in the ancie

The Bassano tower is one of the many towers sighting located along the Amalfi Coast. It was built in 1563 near the Cala di Fuenti, where the Saracen pirates moored their feluccas and from which they left for numerous raids. Just one of these raids, a few years earlier, had cost dear to nearby Cetara , which was completely destroyed, with 300 deported inhabitants; the leader of the assault was the infamous Sinan Bassà, from whom it seems that the name of the tower derives.