Pratola Peligna ( Abruzzese: ') is a ''

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 ...

'' and

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the

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

in the Abruzzo region of

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 ...

. As of 2015, it has a population of 7,652 inhabitants.

Geography

Pratola Peligna is bordered by

Popoli Popoli is a '' comune'' and town in the province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region of Italy. History Though the site has not revealed significant Roman presence it appears in a ninth-century document as ''borgo di Pagus Fabianus''. Its name in m ...

Corfinio Corfinio is a ''comune'' (municipality) and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. In the Middle Ages, Roman ''Corfinium'' was known as Valva, and was the seat of a bishopric. This name is preserved in the name of the uni ...

, Prezza,

Raiano Raiano (locally ''Raianë'') is a town and ''comune'' of the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Geography Raiano is located at above sea level, on the western side of the Peligna Valley. In his Naturalis Historia, Pliny the ...

Roccacasale Roccacasale (locally ''La Rocca'') is a ''comune'' in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Built on the slopes of the Monte della Rocca in the central Apennine Mountains, Apennines, the village overlooks the Peligna Valley and ...

and

Sulmona Sulmona ( nap, label= Abruzzese, Sulmóne; la, Sulmo; grc, Σουλμῶν, Soulmôn) is a city and ''comune'' of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in ...

History

It is supposed that in

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

there was a stranger ''pagus'' (village) peligno, who would have participated with

Corfinium Corfinium (Greek: ) was a city in ancient Italy, on the eastern side of the Apennines, due east of Rome, near modern Corfinio, in the province of L'Aquila (Abruzzo region). History Corfinium was the chief city of the Paeligni, situated in the ...

in the Social War against Rome in 91 BC, but there are no finds to prove its existence. A tomb of the 6th century, of Ostrogoth style, attests to the existence of a settlement, perhaps coinciding with the locality ''Fara de Campiliano'', mentioned in the documents of the following centuries. The first document in which the name of Pratola appears ("''on site Pratulae''") is an agricultural contract of 997, reported in the ''Chronicon Volturnensis'', which however does not yet refer to an inhabited center. During the 12th century a fortified center was created: in 1170 the ''castrum Pratulae'' was assigned by the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

William II to

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Odorisio of L'Aquila. In 1294 the fiefdom was assigned by

Charles II of Anjou Charles II, also known as Charles the Lame (french: Charles le Boiteux; it, Carlo lo Zoppo; 1254 – 5 May 1309), was King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1285–1309), Prince of Achaea (1285–1289), and Count of Anjou and Mai ...

to the abbot of the monastery of Abbey of Santo Spirito del Morrone, under whose rule Pratola will remain until 1807. The history of the country is characterized by several popular ferments; to remember: in 1799 the revolt against the invasion French (together with many other municipalities of Abruzzo), the opposition to the Constitution of the Bourbon government of Ferdinand II in 1848 and the riot of 1934 against the fascist regime. During the Second World War, on August 2, 1943, the Montecatini plant, located two kilometers from the country, was bombed by the Allies. In 1863, after the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

, the town was officially given by

royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

the name Pratola Peligna. On January 9, 2006, the

President of Italy The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian poli ...

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Biography Education Ciampi was born i ...

, awarded the municipality of Pratola the ,The application was submitted following studies carried out by Tommaso Liberatore and Panfilo Petrella. with the following citation: "Strategically important center, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, it was subjected to continuous and violent bombings, which caused numerous civilian casualties and the destruction of industrial heritage. The population, forced to take refuge in the surrounding countryside, contributed to the war of liberation with the establishment of the first partisan nuclei, suffering fierce retaliation from the German army. 1943/1944".

Twin towns

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, since 1992 * Gioia dei Marsi, Italy, since 2013

Transport

Pratola Peligna is served by two train stations. The first one is Pratola Peligna main railway that connects Pratola to Est side of Italy, from

till

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

and Pratola Peligna Superiore railway station, a

railway stop A railway stop is a spot along a railway line, usually between stations or at a seldom-used station, where passengers can board and exit the train. While a junction or interlocking usually divides two or more lines or routes, and thus has rem ...

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. Togethe ...

, with trains to L'Aquila and

till

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

References

{{authority control Cities and towns in Abruzzo