Overview
You cannot end your vacation in Abruzzo without stopping at Castel Frentano, recognized capital of bocconotto.
You are south of Lanciano, in the historic "Frentania", today Val di Sangro, over which the village stands.
Among historic buildings, churches and ancient defensive walls, bakeries and pastry shops stand with their storefronts adorned with this iconic dessert of mysterious origin, first mentioned in 1930 by the author of the Abruzzi Dictionary Domenico Bielli, who wrote as follows: "buccunotte, round-shaped pastry filled with honey, cream, chocolate, whipped cream or other."
Taste the shortbread pastry, which immediately wins you over with its friability and that invisible heart of chocolate, which slowly melts under your palate, giving you an unrepeatable moment of happiness.
The delicious tartelletta - prepared with flour, sugar, extra virgin olive oil, and filled with a compact cream made of dark chocolate, almonds and cinnamon - was probably born when cocoa arrived in Europe, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, thanks to the creativity and culinary skills of those who could afford desserts and sweets to end a lunch or dinner on a high note.
Close your eyes and imagine the scene of a line of women with copper pans on their heads proceeding to the village's community oven in order to each bake "festive sweets."
And Castel Frentano's bocconotto will seem even better to you.
The Abruzzese village, which is modern in most of its houses, was once called Castel Petrino, because it may have been founded by a Longobard Petrino around the year 1,000; then, it was destroyed and rebuilt under the name of Castelnuovo and was so called until 1863. Two landslides a few years later struck it, knocking down part of the village.
If you reach the upper part of the town, you will catch sight of sections of the medieval fortifications, then look out from the viewing balcony on Via della Rosa, created from the base of a defensive bastion, and breathe in all the views of the Val di Sangro.
Now visit the 18th-century parish church of Santo Stefano, which houses a Baroque organ and interesting altarpieces. Then reach the neo-Romanesque church of San Rocco with its monumental portal and ornate coffered ceiling in the Castellina district. It was built in the second half of the 17th century and renovated in the 20th century. Behind it, to your surprise, a beautiful fountain made in 1977 appears.
What else to see:
- The church of Santa Maria Assunta
- Vergilij Palace
- Crognale Palace
- Cavacini Palace
