Guardiagrele

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Guardiagrele
coat of arms
Guardiagrele (Italy)
Guardiagrele
Country Italy
region Abruzzo
province Chieti  (CH)
Coordinates 42 ° 12 '  N , 14 ° 13'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 12 '0 "  N , 14 ° 13' 0"  E
height 576  m slm
surface 56 km²
Residents 8,820 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 158 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 66016
ISTAT number 069043
Popular name Guardiesi
Patron saint San Donato
Website Guardiagrele
Guardiagrele
Guardiagrele

Guardiagrele is an Italian commune with 8820 inhabitants in the province of Chieti in Abruzzo and is a member of the association I borghi più belli d'Italia (The Most Beautiful Places in Italy)

location

The old town of Guardiagreles is located on the top of a hill (almost 600 m above sea level) at the foot of the Majella massif and in the immediate vicinity of the Majella National Park . The town offers views over the Majella, the hill country and the distant sea. The poet Gabriele D'Annunzio described Guardiagrele as the "balcony of Abruzzo" because of its panorama.

history

The same tower in a photo from 1925
The watchtower (Guardia), from which part of the place name comes, 2010

The first settlement originally happened at the foot of the hill on which the old town is today. The documented name of this settlement was Aelion . Later the name became Graelion , and finally Grelis . To protect the village, a watchtower was built on the hill above the village of Grelis in the 9th century (the Torione , which today stands in Piazza Garibaldi ), around which the first residential structures soon also formed. Because of the higher quality of life on the hill (at that time mainly due to the more favorable sewage situation and consequently better hygiene) this district, which was called Guardia (= "Wache"), developed faster. Finally, the two districts Guardia and Grelis became today's Guardiagrele .

Around 1300 the tower was integrated into their residence by the Orsini family , which is why it is still called Torione Orsini today. The tower is the only remaining part of the first generation fortress structure.

In the 15th century, the sculptor and goldsmith Nicola da Guardiagrele , whose works are known nationally, was born here.

City arms

The city coat of arms shows a lion with a flag and a person with a palm leaf. The motto Guardia Plena Bonis, Fert Ardua Signa Leoni translated means “Guardia, full of good people, carries the strong shield of the lion”.

Attractions

Despite the architecture and urban planning that is otherwise typical for the time of origin, the place does not have a central market place. At the southern end of the Old Town is the popularly known as just piano called Largo Garibaldi (Garibaldi Square), today, the Watchtower is at the south side of the city gave its name (see above). In addition to its picturesque cityscape, Guardiagrele offers some remarkable monuments from the Middle Ages as well as four museums.

  • Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (12th c.) And the adjoining Cathedral Museum. There is a cross from 1431 ( Nicola da Guardiagrele ), a baroque pulpit made of walnut and a fresco by Andrea de Litio from 1473.
  • The church of San Francesco d'Assisi from 1276 , especially the cloister next to it . In the church with its Romanesque-Gothic portal are the relics of Saint Nicola Greco, who died around 1010 at the age of 100. They were transferred to the church in 1938 by the local royal family Orsini from the monastery in Prata (near Casoli ).
  • The citizen museum
  • The costume and folklore museum
  • The Archaeological Museum

  • West side of Santa Maria Maggiore

  • New, exposed belfry of Santa Maria Maggiore at night

  • Garibaldi Square at the south end of the old town

  • Town Hall and Church of San Francesco D'Assisi

  • Cloister of the Order adjacent to the Church of San Francesco

  • Gothic-Romanesque entrance door of San Francesco

  • Relics of Saint Nicola Greco in the Church of San Francesco

  • Madonna Del Carmine Church in Via Modesto Della Porta

  • Birth house of the poet Modesto Della Porta in Via Modesto Della Porta 25

economy

Selling blacksmithing at Porta San Giovanni

Guardiagrele has been known for its blacksmithing since the Renaissance . From copper to gold, almost all metals have been and are worked here, and iron forging is still very important.

At Porta San Giovanni (at the northern end of the old town) there are still many of the specialized Botteghe (shops). The products are now also being sold by many larger shops outside the old town.

In 2000 , Guardiagrele was the setting for the experiment of SIMEC , a local experimental currency that was introduced by a wealthy guardieser academic, but could only last a few months.

Culinary specialties

Near the town of vines are varieties Montepulciano for the DOC - wine Montepulciano d'Abruzzo grown. (As mentioned, Montepulciano is the grape variety here , and not to be confused with the well-known wine from the region (DOC) Montepulciano , which, by the way, is not made from the Montepulciano grape variety, but from Sangiovese .)

Sise delle monache

A very specific culinary specialty from Guardiagrele are the so-called sise delle monache (= " nun's breasts "), which were invented in 1884 by the confectioner Giuseppe Palmerio. This is a sweet biscuit made from sponge dough and filled with a variation of English cream . The pastry got its name because of its shape: Initially, Palmerio called his creation tre monti (= "three mountains") based on the three tips decorated with sugar. There are different versions of the history of the origin of the current name. Allegedly, the Guardiagrele poet Modesto Della Porta invented it when he saw a tin with the biscuits. To this day, the pastries are exclusively produced by two bakeries in Guardiagrele and, despite the manageable taste peculiarities, are not only popular with tourists.

Trivia

  • The late romantic poet Gabriele D'Annunzio has the plot of one of his better-known works Il Trionfo della morte (“The Triumph of Death”, 1894) set in Guardiagrele, which is the hometown of the protagonist Giorgio Aurispa .

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Guardiagrele  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ^ I borghi più belli d'Italia. Borghipiubelliditalia.it, accessed September 6, 2017 (Italian).
  3. ↑ Bernhard Abend: Italy, South. Baedeker, 2006, ISBN 9783829711241 , p. 136. Restricted preview in the Google book search
  4. ↑ Ekkehart Rotter, Roger Willemsen, Elfriede Pokorny: Abruzzen, Molise: Romanesque abbeys, defiant castles and baroque churches between the high mountains and the Adriatic coast , DuMont Reiseverlag, 2006, ISBN 3770166124