History of Abruzzo Italy - Travel Guide & Information

This description page of Abruzzo will guide you planning your trip to Italy and find useful travel information about the History of this region of Italy.

People are believed to have been in the Abruzzo region for about 700,000 years.  At that time, it is thought that nomads roamed the valleys and survived by hunting. As of 6,500 years ago, the Neolithic period found Abruzzo to have an agricultural economy.  People began raising sheep and the farming and sheep-herding traditions have survived till this day.

The tribes in the area were the Aequi, the Marsi, the Samnites, the Vestini, and the tribe of the Peligna valley.  The Warrior of Capestrano is a funeral stele from the 6th century B.C. and is the most important work in Abruzzo from this time.

The Romans conquered the tribes in Abruzzo by 88 B.C. and the people became Roman citizens.  Together with the region of Molise, Abruzzo became the 4th region of Rome and was renamed Sabina et Samnium.  Due to the Roman occupation, the infrastructure of Abruzzo was greatly improved with the addition of new roads, theaters, temples, spas and amphitheaters.

When the Roman Empire fell, the region was one of the area involved in the Greek-Gotho war, and then the 6th century saw the arrival of the Longobardi, who divided the region into the Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, and the area became known as “Aprutium.”  Under Charles the Great, the area was under feudal rule, but saw a large increase in the number of important architectural buildings.

The Normans entered the scene in the year 1000 A.C. and by 1143 had Abruzzo under their control, where it was ruled by o Regnum Siciliae (which later became Naples).  Frederick II of Svevia, in 1233, called the region Iustitieratus Aprutii and made Sulmona its capital.  L’Aquila was created by the Angioini dynasty in 1254 and was the second most important city after Naples.

During this time, the Cistercian Benedictines took great steps in improving the economic and social situation of the region.  They built most of their convents on the sites of pagan temples and set up a system in which they were able to provide for themselves allowing them to be completely autonomous.

The Aragonesi dynasty, led by Alfonso d’Aragona, defeated the Angioini in 1442.  This kept the region under French rule until the Spaniards, with Ferdinando the Catholic, taking control in 1504.  The people of the area sided with the French, and were subsequently punished so severely by the Spaniards that the region saw and intense economic and social decline that lasted until the end of Spanish rule in 1707.

The Austrian ruled until 1734. After this, Abruzzo was ruled by Napoleon, who abolished feudalism and carried out many administrative, judicial and economic reforms. The Bourbons again came into rule in 1815 and during this time there were numerous uprisings recorded against them. The Fucino lake was drained the decade following.

After World War I, Abruzzo’s large social gap between the classes made the region fertile ground for Fascism.  World War II was particularly cruel to the region as the Nazis killed many and the retreating army destroyed much of the area. The region did not see much rebuilding until the 60’s, but today, Abruzzo is as economically developed as northern Italy.

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