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Teramo Turismo

Home Territory Towns and Villages Sant'Omero
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Sant'Omero

For a long period, Sant'Omero has been a fief under the dominion of the Lords of Acquaviva; the rest of the town walls, that surrounded it in 1400, suggest that the town has preserved its classical mediaeval structure.

However, the pre-Roman Church of Santa Maria a Vico is certainly the feather on its cap. It was built on top of the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to Hercules: it is one of the most ancient Churches in Abruzzo and one of the few going back further than year 1000.

The historical centre is also very suggestive with its medieval Tower Torrione medievale and the Church of the Misericordia, today called Chiesa Marchesale. The latter was built in the 14th  century following a terrible pestilence and was later rebuilt on commission of the Marquis  and Abbot Don Alvaro Mendoza y Alarçon during the 17th century.

Among the hilly lands surrounding Sant'Omero, many are the testimonies of the rural life that characterises the Teramo inland: the pinciaie are houses built with uncooked clay, very frequent in the area of the Vibrata and the “grotte di Saraceni” are cisterns built in Roman times, and used up to a couple of decades to collect water.

The neighbouring hamlets also deserve a visit; during the 11th century Poggio Morello was the seat of the major Benedictine monastery of San Lorenzo a Salino.

In Villa Ricci, you can find water mills dating from the 16th century, when this village was the main economical centre of the surrounding area.

Finally, Garrufo, originally Castrum Rufi was named after one of its citizens, the Roman nobleman Lucio Tario Rufi. Here were found remains of a Roman aqueduct and an acephalous Statue that was brought back from Corinth in 146 B.C. and donated to the city of Palma, once standing between Sant'Omero and Tortoreto.

Teramo Turismo
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