Anversa degli Abruzzi

The Cornflowers of the Sagittario River

The Name

The name derives from the ad versus (in front of, nearby) or amnis versus (toward the river), which suggests the etymological and phonetic root a(di)nversa(m) (aquam), with the water being that of the Sagittario river.

In reference to the Norman period, the name could also be linked to that of Aversa, the town in Campania founded by the Normans. In 1927 the specification “degli Abruzzi” was added.

History

• 1150: in the Norman King Roger II’s "Catalogue of Barons," the land of Anversa, together with the fief of Castrovalva, is listed as belonging to the Count Simone di Sangro. In 1187 it already had a court for civil and criminal trials. Simone’s fiefs were later inherited by Raynaldo di Sangro, who lost them for having sided against the emperor Frederick II. The lands of Anversa and its Norman castle (built in the first half of the 12th century by Antonio di Sangro) did not return to this family until 1250.
• 1431: the county comes under the seigniory of the Caldoras of Pacentro and, in 1479, under that of Niccolò da Procida, who gives the church of San Marcello its splendid portal. In 1493 it was sold to the Belprato, who held it until 1631, bringing it to its maximum splendor. In 1500 the literary Accademia degli Addormentati, founded by Gianvincenzo Belprato, brought humanists, scientists, and artists from many parts of Italy to the Anversa Palace.
• 1656: the village is decimated by the plague which arrived from Naples. The violent earthquake of 1706 finished the job of devastation, to the degree that in a document dated 1754 the Norman castle is described as being "destroyed and fruitless." In the 18th century Anversa belonged to the Recupito family, until the fief was extinguished in 1806. A few years earlier, in 1799, under the storm of the French Revolution, the people of Anversa, weapons in hand, refused to pay taxes, causing a great sensation.
• 1817: the village of Castrovalva is joined with Anversa. Following the unification of Italy, the area suffers from brigandage.
• 1905: Gabriele D'Annunzio uses Anversa as the setting of his La fiaccola sotto il moggio, which he defines as “the most perfect of all my tragedies.”

Serpents wound around the branches of a compass.

"The mountains are barren, jagged, frightful, with sheer drops; the river gurgles between the rocks, falls in cascades, wanders off in rivulets, gathers in pools": this is Anversa’s setting, described by an observer in 1912.

The town rises at an elevation of 600 meters on a broad spur overlooking the gorge carved out by the Sagittario river.

A visit to the historic center starts with the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (16th cent.) with its Renaissance limestone portal from 1540, the only one of its kind in Abruzzo with its rare iconographic motif, and a magnificent rose window from 1585, bearing the coats of arms of the Sangro family and of Anversa, with serpents wound around the branches of a compass. The church has a nave with two side aisles, and the rectangular apse has a polychrome statue of San Rocco, made by local ceramists in 1530. The temple-shaped wooden tabernacle was carved in the 16th century and gilded in 1664. The high altar has a copy of the splendid 16th-century Anversa triptych, which unfortunately was stolen in 1981.

Walking through the narrow streets leading to the Norman castle (12th cent.), turned into a scenic backdrop of ruins by the 1706 earthquake, one sees a row of houses made from solid dressed stone, softened by decorated door frames and arches, harmonious portals and square windows. The architectural characteristics are typical of the 16th-18th centuries, when Anversa was a flourishing town whose economy was based on the raising of sheep, and the local families, despite their austereness and atavistic parsimoniousness, were not stingy with the money used to decorate their houses and increase their family prestige. Thus the town became a center for skilled artisans and stonecutters.

There is a fascinating atmosphere in the tiny streets and arched passageways of the medieval village, delimited by the outer ring of houses, most of which built over cliffs, that surround the old town standing below the castle ruins. From there one easily reaches the scenic outlook over the Sagittario Gorge and, going down the via Duca degli Abruzzi, the Romanesque Church of San Marcello (11th cent.). The church has an elegant late Gothic portal, decorated with fantastic sculptures and ornamental, plant, and anthropomorphic motifs, and also a lunette with a fresco of the Madonna and Child with two saints, one of which with a millstone tied around his neck as a symbol of his martyrdom. The tour then continues toward Porta Pazziana, one of the surviving gates in the medieval circuit of city walls, and on to the terrace with the beautiful view of the Sagittario river and the village of Castrovalva.

From the Sagittario Gorge, one can clearly see, even though somewhat obscured by the overgrowth of plants from the last few centuries, a row of buildings known as the “Houses of the Lombards,” built by bricklayers from northern Italy in the period from 1480 to 1520. Nearby there is a portal from 1666 with carvings of symbolic figures connected with the worship of St. Dominic: a serpent, a fish, a sword, and mule irons. Many talismanic symbols can be found throughout the village.

Below the village are the remains of the Church of Santa Maria ad Nives and monastery, which belonged to the Benedictine monks as early as the 9th century.

The last stop on the tour is the sleepy hamlet of Castrovalva, which faces the captivating Sagittario Gorge. One enters the hamlet through a Gothic-arched gate; inside there is the parish church of Santa Maria della Neve, (16th cent.) and the small church of San Michele Arcangelo, built in the 12th century.

Local Products

The pignata, an earthenware pot used for cooking beans, is the symbol of Anversa (its inhabitants were called "pignatari") together with the cucù, a ceramic whistle.

The smoked ricotta of Anversa is one of Abruzzo’s most famous foods, winning a gold medal at the Mountain Cheese Olympics in 2002.

Local dishes

Local dishes worthy of special mention are quagliatelli e fagioli, a pasta and bean soup, kid with “cheese and egg,” the thin and delicate pizzelle cooked on a special handmade iron, and sweet Christmas treats such as fry bread and ceci ripieni.