Overview
In Fara Filiorum Petri you will feel relaxed just like the tiny village in the province of Chieti, which lies at the center of the Val di Foro, between the hills of Casacanditella and the Faresi Hills.
It is a bucolic landscape, where the cultivation of olive and fruit trees is common, and it seems to stand still in time, with a few rammed-earth roads reminding us of earlier agrarian settlements between the 15th and 18th centuries. Among them, walk along Via Madonna, bordered by long rows of oak trees, and you will feel transported to a separate, ancient world, marked only by the rhythm of nature.
The shepherds lived this way when they walked with their flocks during the Transhumance period on the Centurelle-Montesecco Tratturo (which connected Aquilano with Molise with its 155 kilometres), a section of which passed on the edge of the village. But you are unlikely to come across it because it is largely alienated and put to productive uses.
Do think that in the early Middle Ages the territory was ruled by the Langobards, who left the village with the most important thing: its name. Fara would in fact derive from the German "fahren", which means demographic nucleus, the grouping of several people.
Also fundamental was the Benedictine presence of San Liberatore a Maiella, that by the close of the year 1000 owned vast lands in the area.
The fiefdom later belonged to many noble families, such as Colonna, Cardone, Barone di Capua, Costa and Spinelli, who left their mark on the town.
You should go and visit the Church of the Santissimo Salvatore, which is of early medieval origin, with an 11th-century Benedictine three-nave layout, one of which was later converted into a porch. The interior contains a beautiful processional cross from the school of Nicola da Guardiagrele, one of the great Italian artists of the late Gothic period.
Also make a visit to the church of Sant'Antonio Abate, existing since 1365, with statues of the patron saint of animals and Sant'Agata. And, since you are in the mood for art, faith and memories, have a look at the remains of the Sant'Euphemia complex, with its wall perimetre, apse and Gothic entrance arch.
However, the religious monument, which was founded together with the monastery of the same name by San Aldemaro of Capua in 1004, was once a powerful one. In the nearby vicinity, flowed a "miraculous" spring (now dried up) dedicated to Sant'Euphemia, which was a destination of pilgrimage because tradition recognized its power to return milk to women and animals.
If you are a fan of folklore, you should not miss the Festa delle Farchie (a word of Arabic origin meaning flashlight), on the occasion of the feast of Sant'Antonio Abate.The community of Fara sets fire to huge bundles of reeds with a circumference of more than a meter and a height that sometimes is more than ten.
Use this opportunity to taste the typical traditional dessert, "lu serpendone di Sant'Antonio", and learn more about the White Onion of Fara Filiorum Petri, which is a Slow Food Presidium, a delicious vegetable with a flat shape and a sweet, aromatic flavor.
It was already cultivated in the 1300s by the monks of Sant'Eufemia.