Overview
With its medieval layout consisting of the remains of house-walls, ancient gates, evocative webs of alleys throughout the town and some imposing mansions from the Renaissance period, it is in its own right one of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy. Have you guys ever been there?
Caramanico Terme is located within the Majella National Park, with its Valle dell'Orfento Nature Reserve, established before the Park.
The hamlet, of Lombard origin, retains its medieval layout, consisting of the remains of house-walls, ancient gates and evocative webs of alleys throughout the inhabited area, enriched by some imposing stately palaces that arose during the Renaissance.
Caramanico is an important thermal centre: the extraordinary therapeutic virtues of the sulfur waters, known for centuries, are especially anti-inflammatory and eutrophic, performing prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.
In the Reserve, there is the Celestinian Hermitage of San Giovanni all'Orfento, among the most isolated and exciting to reach. Access to the hermitage is via a staircase of 20 steps, about 8 meters long, followed by a walkway carved into the rock.
To be able to see and appreciate the many wonders of the Maiella, you can visit two museums in Caramanico: The Abruzzese and Italian Fauna Museum, which testifies to its astonishing wealth of fauna, and the Naturalistic and Archaeological Museum. Divided in two sections, it reproduces the different environments of the park and displays artifacts from different periods.
Also relevant is the European Otter Breeding Centre, which houses otters in semi-captive conditions, used in recent years to carry out experimental reintroductions in the park territory.
Artistic destinations of particular beauty between the 13th and 16th centuries are the Abbey of St. Mary Major, the Church of St. Nicholas and the Church of St. Thomas Becket. St. Mary Major Abbey has a rectangular plan with a rectilinear apse and a Gothic portal with rich sculptural ornamentation. Inside are the Baroque marble altar of the Assumption, the gilded copper monstrance by Nicola da Guardiagrele, the statue of the Assumption remade by sculptor Nicola D'Antino, the canvas "The Last Supper," the 15th century artistic Crucifix and the 15th century tempera triptych.
The Church of St. Nicholas features a neoclassical facade with a richly carved and decorated portal surmounted by two niches in which are statues of St. Peter, St. Lucy and, in the centre, the statue of St. Nicholas, dated around the early ́200s. Inside, the third altar to the right of the entrance is admirable, bearing a stupendous Byzantine-style icon depicting Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This church also preserves a work by Nicola D´Antino: it is the wooden statue of the Immaculate Conception.
The Church of St. Thomas Becket, of considerable artistic value, was probably built on a pre-existing and perhaps elementary sacred building, intended for the worship of water, as suggested by a well, of archaic form, located in the crypt and a basin, used for blessed water.