Overview
In the central part of the Pescara Valley, you come across Turrivalignani, a tiny community that was formed thanks to the construction of the Abbey of San Giovanni Battista and San Vincenzo.
A religious monument that we recommend a visit (always check openings by calling the municipality) especially if you are fond of the subject. According to art scholars, it bears many similarities to San Liberatore a Maiella and San Clemente a Casauria Abbeys, two outstanding pieces of medieval architecture in the region, which you should definitely see. According to their research, the abbey dates back to around the 12th century.
As you can see, the stone portal is made of wall wire without decorations, while the apse is decorated on the outside with a motif of hanging arches and circular medallions with flowers, and a slit in the upper part, adorned with a series of palmettes. Inside, engravings and symbols catch your eye, such as five-pointed stars and imprints of pilgrims' sandals, sometimes accompanied by noble coats of arms, as well as a varied decoration of the capitals, carved in palm leaves or decorated.
You can enter the crypt, which preserves an ancient plaster statue depicting St. Vincent. It has no particular artistic value, but for the faithful it is an object of special devotion because, according to tradition, the saint is endowed with thaumaturgical properties (on the feast day dedicated to him, the first Sunday after Easter, the most devoted people remove a small piece of stucco from the base of the statue, which they then keep as protection against illness).
In the centre, which belonged to the noble Teatine Valignani family and was known as Turri in the 18th century, visit the parish church dedicated to Santo Stefano, built in the 14th century and remodelled in the Renaissance. Admire its 16th-century façade in local stone with its square tower bell tower and its Baroque, single-nave interior.
From human art you move on to that of nature which, around the village, has carved out over the millennia with the rains and the erosion of atmospheric agents a group of gullies, the banks of Turrivalignani, a site of community interest of great and fragile beauty, under many attacks from climate change and reckless human actions.
It's time to set the table for the appointment with arrosticini, ambassadors of Abruzzo: You are about 30 kilometres from the area where, according to tradition, they originated at the end of the 19th century (Villa Celiera) thanks to the ingenuity of a local shepherd who, in order to prevent the less fresh sheep's meat from hardening, diced it up by sticking the cubes into 'ceppetti' (long sticks) to be cooked over embers.
Knowing their history now, you can taste them with more relish, they are the best 'rustelle' in the world.