Fossa (formerly ''Aveia'') is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' and

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the

province of L'Aquila The province of L'Aquila () is the largest, most mountainous and least densely populated Provinces of Italy, province of the Abruzzo region of Italy. It comprises about half the landmass of Abruzzo and occupies the western part of the region. It ...

in the

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

region of southern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Bernardino of Fossa Bernardino of Fossa (b. at Fossa (AQ), Fossa, in the Diocese of Aquila, Italy, in 1420; d. at Aquila, 27 November 1503) was an Italian Franciscan historian and ascetical writer. Life Bernardino belonged to the Amici family, and sometimes bears ...

was born in the town. The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake contributed to the collapse of a bridge in Fossa, and caused extensive damage to the residential buildings in the town. The town was the epicentre of a major aftershock 5.4 Mw on April 7, 2009.

History

The first traces of human presence in the area in pre-Roman times date back to the

Vestini Vestini () were an Italic peoples, Italic tribe who occupied the area of the modern Abruzzo (central Italy), included between the Gran Sasso and the northern bank of the Aterno-Pescara, Aterno river. Their main centres were ''Pitinum ''(near mo ...

, with the remains of fortifications on Mount Cerro and the

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

from the 9th century BC. Roman times witnessed the development of Aveia, a city that was a part of the prefecture and Roman municipality of the Augustan IV region (Samnium et Sabina) until the

Third Samnite War The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanians, Lucania ...

, only for it to be incorporated within Rome after the

Battle of Sentinum The Battle of Sentinum was the decisive battle of the Third Samnite War, fought in 295 BC near Sentinum (next to the modern town of Sassoferrato, in the Marches region of Italy), in which the Romans overcame a formidable coalition of Samni ...

in 295 BC on par with

Peltuinum Peltuinum was a Roman Empire, Roman town of the Vestini, on the ancient Via Claudia Nova, 20 km east of L'Aquila, Italy, between the modern-day settlements of Prata d'Ansidonia and Castelnuovo, San Pio delle Camere, Castelnuovo. It was a ...

and

Amiternum Amiternum was an ancient Sabine city, then Roman city and later bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see in the central Abruzzo region of modern Italy, located from L'Aquila. Amiternum was the birthplace of the historian Sallust (86 BC). Histo ...

. The floods that procured the swamping of the countryside below present-day Fossa and the perching of the village on the mountain for defensive needs following the barbarian invasions caused the new medieval village to be superimposed on the ancient Roman city, to which it supplied much of the building material, as evidenced by the many artifacts visible in the new buildings. The original settlement of Fossa dates from the early 12th century and consisted essentially of the keep on the summit and the dwellings contained in the fortified enclosure. Around the same time, the

Castle of Fossa The Castle of Fossa (Italian: ''Castello fi Fossa'') is a Middle Ages castle in Fossa, province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, southern Italy. History The castle of Fossa is the typical result of the phenomena of encastellation that occurred in medi ...

was built. The first mentions of the new nucleus of Fossa date back to this period, with the first document consisting of a Papal Bull of 1204 that includes the town to the Diocese Forconese and another document of 1269 that testifies to the town's participation in the founding of the city of

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

. Initially it was a fief of the Berardi and Fossa families (who derived their name from it) and later of the Colonna and

Barberini The House of Barberini is a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in the 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban pal ...

families. Expansion of the hamlet began in the late 13th century along the ridge of the karst sinkhole itself with a concentric settlement around the fortified enclosure. The castle's efficiency lasted through the 16th century, overtaken then by the invention of firearms and the development of trade that broke the closed medieval economy. In a second phase the village developed along the main road set above the slope of the mountain. On 6 April 2009 at 3:32 am, the town was impacted by the L'Aquila earthquake, which resulted in the collapse of a bridge and severe damage to most of the residential buildings in the town.There was an aftershock happening on the following day with its epicenter located in Fossa. Those events led to the town being largely abandoned. Reconstruction of the severely damaged town began as early as May 2011, but the process was slow, partially due to the refusal of foreign aid by the Italian government under then-Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

and due to bureaucratic hurdles. Until 2019, the town remained largely abandoned, with reconstruction still progressing on a slow pace, although some buildings were already being restored. On 28 April 2019, the church Santa Maria ad Cryptas was reopened for worship, almost a decade after the disaster. As of June 2024, reconstruction is still ongoing, with many of Fossa's residents returning to their former homes, which by then had been fully rebuilt.

Main sights

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

* Santa Maria ad Cryptas * Santa Maria Assunta, the parish church of Fossa, situated in Piazza Belvedere * Necropolis of Fossa * Palazzo Bonanni, the former seat of the local government, now a museum of local artisan crafts

Transport

Fossa has a stop on the

Terni–Sulmona railway The Terni–Sulmona railway is a regional railway line in central Italy, managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. It links three regions, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo, and three Provinces of Italy, provincial capitals: Terni, Rieti and L'Aquila. Togeth ...

, with trains to

and

Sulmona Sulmona (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of L'Aquila, in the Italy, Italian region of Abruzzo. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in prehistoric times. In the ancient era, it was ...

References

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