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CELANO AVEZZANO AND
ALBA FUCENS |
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Fringing the plain is CELANO , a pretty village crowned by a
turreted toytown castle and home to a new Museo della Preistoria
d'Abruzzo, based on finds from a nearby lake village dating back to 3000
years BC (Mon-Sat 9am-7.30pm, Sun 2-7.30pm; free). Hotel Le Gole on Via
Sardellino (tel 0863.711.009, www.hotellegole.it ;
L150,000-200,000/¬77.47-103.29) makes an excellent base for the area,
including Alba Fucens . Built in 1998 in faux-Francescan style around a
central cloister it's a comfortable, professionally run, well-organized
place to stay, with great food at reasonable prices in its Da
Guerrinuccio restaurant.
A little further west is AVEZZANO , an unfortunate city that was
destroyed - along with 10,000 inhabitants - by an earthquake in 1915. It
was rebuilt, but flattened again by World War II bombings. It's since
been reconstructed, but the only reason for a visit is to get a bus out
to the remains of a substantial Roman colony at Alba Fucens, or south to
the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo . Buses to Alba Fucens leave from outside
the train station; there are around nine daily going there, about five
coming back.
Alba Fucens was a garrison town of about 30,000 inhabitants, founded by
the Romans in 304 BC to keep the surrounding tribes in check. Aerial
photographs have identified remains spreading over three square
kilometres, but only the area nearest to Albe has been excavated. The
main street of the town, Via Valeria, originally ran to Rome, 68 Roman
miles away, according to a milestone on the town's edge. Walking down
the parallel street, you reach the marketplace, still with the walls and
arches of the small shops that used to surround it. Beyond is a bar,
consisting of a sink with pipes that once dispensed hot wine with honey
and pine-resin; behind are the steam baths - you can see the holes in
the raised pavement through which the steam rose. A good many statues,
most notably a gargantuan marble Hercules, were also found, but these
are now kept at Chieti's archeology museum . Further on, above the
amphitheatre, the beautiful Romanesque church of San Pietro has some
excellent Cosmatesque inlaid and twisted marble decoration.
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