Gissi ( Abruzzese: ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' located in the

Province of Chieti The province of Chieti ( it, provincia di Chieti; Abruzzese: ') is a province in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city Chieti, which has a population of 50,770 inhabitants. The province has a total population of 387,6 ...

, Abruzzo,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is bordered by two

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the Sinello River and is surrounded by

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...

s and olive groves.

History

Gissi has been populated since prehistoric times. In the 12th century it was under the influence of the D'Avalos family.

Main sights

The ''Palazzo Carunchio'' and the ruins of the Castle are exemplary of the town's buildings, balconies, and alleys. Built in the 19th century, the Palazzo Carunchio now serves as the Town Hall, and houses the town's administrative offices. The town has other fine examples of ''palazzi'' from the 18th and 19th centuries, adorned with fine architectural details. Also notable is that many Gissi homes are covered with

gesso Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...

, a material obtained from nearby caves and hills. The Church of ''Santa Maria Assunta'' is Gissi's oldest church, which was remodeled in 1955. Inside, it houses silver crosses from the

Neapolitan School In music history, the Neapolitan School is a group, associated with opera, of 17th and 18th-century composers who studied or worked in Naples, Italy,Don Michael Randel (2003). ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'', p. 549. . the best known of whom ...

dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, a 17th-century wooden statue of Saint Pamphilus, and a wooden cross from the late 12th. Its ceiling contains a reproduction of the '' Annunciation'' attributed to Guido Reni, and its 16th century wooden organ is carved and gilded with gold. The church also has two

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

s dedicated to the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

and Sacred Heart. Another church is the ''Cappella di Santa Lucia'' located in La Pineta, a pine tree park which affords views of the surrounding countryside, including the Adriatic Sea.

Culture

Gissi is home to a variety of feasts and festivals, many of which are religious feasts in celebration of saints. These include the 20 May feast of St. Bernardino of Siena, who is buried at L'Aquila in the cathedral dedicated in his name. Other feasts include the Feast of St. Lucy on August 20 and the Feast of St. Roch on August 19.

People

Remo Gaspari Remo Gaspari (10 July 1921 – 19 July 2011) was an Italian politician, who was several times minister of the Italian Republic. Biography Gaspari was born in Gissi, in Abruzzo, a region which would be his main electoral basin during his political ...

(1921–2011), a Christian Democrat politician

References

Cities and towns in Abruzzo {{Abruzzo-geo-stub