Valle San Giovanni
Encyclopedia
Province of Teramo
The Province of Teramo is located in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Teramo. The province has an area of 1,948 km², a population of 296,063 , and is subdivided into 47 comunes , see Comunes of the Province of Teramo...
, in the Abruzzo
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a region in Italy, its western border lying less than due east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, and the Adriatic Sea to the east...
region of central Italy. It is a frazione
Frazione
A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...
of the town of Teramo
Teramo
Teramo is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, the capital of the province of Teramo.The city, from Rome, is situated between the highest mountains of the Apennines and the Adriatic coast...
.
Geography
The village has a population of about 350 people and lies about six miles from Teramo. The Adriatic SeaAdriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
and the Gran Sasso
Gran Sasso
Gran Sasso d'Italia is a mountain located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The Gran Sasso forms the centerpiece of the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park which was established in 1993 and holds the highest mountains in continental Italy south of the Alps and is part of the...
are about 25 km away. It sits in the Tordino
Tordino
Tordino is a river flowing in the province of Teramo, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. In Roman times it was known as "Batinus".The source of the Tordino is located between Mount Gorzano and Pelone. After a course of 58 kilometers, it flows into the Adriatic Sea...
Valley, near the spot where two small streams, the Lete and the Fiumicello, flow into the Tordino river.
Located off the main piazza
Piazza
A piazza is a city square in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza...
, Largo della Chiesa, is Via del Casale. The residents of Valle San Giovanni call themselves "Vallaroli".
Adjacent to Valle San Giovanni are the nearby towns of Frondarola
Frondarola
Frondarola is a small town in the province of Teramo in the Abruzzo region of Italy, population about 200. It lies at an altitude of 1502 feet above sea level and is located about 5 miles from Teramo, of which it is a frazione.-History:...
, Travazzano and Valle Soprana
Valle Soprana
Valle Soprana is a small village in the province of Teramo, in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is a frazione of the town of Teramo.-Geography:Valle Soprana lies about six miles from Teramo, near the edge of the Gran Sasso National Park...
.
History
According to some sources the town takes its name from a powerful Teramo family with the last name "Di Valle". Others claim that the name derives from its proximity to an ancient monastery, San Giovanni in Pergullis (Saint John amongst the Pergolae), a location surrounded by many vineyards.Over the years, the history of Valle San Giovanni has been closely linked with two neighboring communities, Frunti
Frunti
Frunti or Fronto was an ancient territorial and administrative jurisdiction located in the central part Italy. The name Frunti exists to this day as a specific geographical location although in Medieval times the name referred to a larger, more expansive area of land...
a feudal holding of the "De Frunto" family, and Teramo with whom there existed an enduring reciprocal alliance. At one point Teramo briefly annexed Frunti leading to renewed efforts by it inhabitants to break these feudal ties and traditions. In 1338 the townspeople declared their independence from Teramo, thereby reaffirming their autonomous civil liberties. This arrangement lasted until 1457 when Frunti became part of the county Montorio al Vomano
Montorio al Vomano
Montorio al Vomano is a town and comune in the Province of Teramo, in the Abruzzo region of southern Italy. It is located in the natural park known as the "Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park".-Geography:...
. In 1668 Frunti passed into the hands of the Count Crescenzio De Crescentiis. In the beginning of the 18th century Frunti became aligned with neighboring Valle San Giovanni, which at that time was becoming increasingly developed due to having annexed the surrounding church and vineyards of San Giovanni in Pergulis and to serving as a sheep herding way station. This great migration of sheep from Abruzzo to Puglia and Lazio was known as the transumanza
Transumanza
The transumanza is the Italian term for transhumance, the traditional twice yearly migration of sheep and cows from the highlands to the lowlands, and vice versa. The word literally means "crossing the land"...
. Valle San Giovanni sits on one such trail known as the San Quirico.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Valle San Giovanni witnessed a number of brigand skirmishes, these arising from struggles over control of the surrounding forest areas. At least a few of these brigands were themselves local townsfolk.
In the midst of these ongoing struggles, San Giovanni in Pergulis, the monastery on the outskirts of Valle San Giovanni, experienced a rapid and irreversible decline. In 1561 Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV, C.R. , né Giovanni Pietro Carafa, was Pope from 23 May 1555 until his death.-Early life:Giovanni Pietro Carafa was born in Capriglia Irpina, near Avellino, into a prominent noble family of Naples...
deeded these holdings, along with the remains of the old convent, to the collegiate church of Montorio al Vomano with the understanding that they would be restored. Unfortunately, this was not to be and further deterioration ensued. In 1775 the church authorities of Montorio al Vomano ceded San Giovanni in Pergulis and all of its associated religious functions, to the main church of Valle San Giovanni, Madonna della Neve. The latter sits in the center of Valle San Giovanni, and takes its name, Madonna della Neve (Our Lady of Snow), from a legend in which a church was to be erected on the spot where a summer snowfall was to occur. Madonna della Neve is known for its frescoes dating back to 1458 and for the religious festival held the first weekend in August of each year which serves to commemorate its founding.
In 1603 the Marquis Baltassarre Caracciolo, had three of these brigands executed in an effort to put an end once and for all to the ongoing rivalries arising at that time. In 1682, two groups of brigands again fought acrimoniously for control of the land surrounding Valle San Giovanni. One such battle lasted six days and came to an end only when soldiers from Teramo were summoned to put an end to the conflict. Just one year later, in 1683, the town was sacked and almost completely destroyed by Don Alfonso di Villaparte in an attempt to capture the famous brigand, Santuccio Di Froscia, who for years had been terrorizing the countryside.
In 1799 a group of soldiers from Valle San Giovanni, under the leadership of the brigand leader, Vincenzo Rolli, fought valiantly against the French occupying forces. In 1809 the French Napoleonic forces, who would rule for ten years under the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, chose Valle San Giovanni as the center of vast communal territory which included the ex feudal states of Frunti, Valle Piola, Abetemozzo, Borgonovo e Poggio Rattieri.
In the first half of the 19th century, coal deposits were discovered and mined very near the town. From the early 20th century onward, many of the citizens of Valle San Giovanni emigrated to New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, and elsewhere. This served to further impoverish the small village and greatly reduced its population.
In 1868 the town (comune) of Cortino was administratively established and Valle San Giovanni came under the jurisdiction of Montorio al Vomano. In 1929 Valle San Giovanni separated from Montorio al Vomano and became a suburb (frazione) of Teramo.
According to local sources and histories, during the Second World War the grottoes located immediately above Valle San Giovanni served as places of refuge for the Italian partisans then battling the German forces.