Carpineto della Nora, Province of Pescara, Abruzzo

The village is located within the Gran Sasso-Laga National Park, on the southern slopes of Monte Fiore, near to the Nora river. It was not a fortified borough: there is no trace of case-mura (wall-houses) or houses with towers along the outer edge. It was formerly devoted to sheep breeding, though more recently there has been a development in agriculture and the service sector.

Info

Altitude: 535 m a.s.l
Distance from Pescara: 45 km
Population: ca. 750 inhabitants
Postal code: 65010
Dialing Area Code: +39 085
How to reach it: by road, S.N. 602 from Chieti or Capestrano.

History

Mentioned for the first time around the year 1000, its name derives from carpinus, or hornbeam tree, which was typical of the area. For a long time it belonged to the Earl of Penne, who sold it, along with other castles, to the Benedictine monastery of San Bartolomeo in the year 962 AD.

Between 1070 and 1023 the bishops of Penne took over and the inhabitants were forced to pay an annual census for the repair of the cathedral of Penne. In 1168 Carpineto came under Riccardo of Brittoli, on behalf of the abbot of San Bartolomeo; at the time the inhabitants were 396.

In 1258 the Abbey of San Bartolomeo, which also owned Carpineto, was attached to the Abbey of Casanova and lost its autonomy. In the seventeenth century, Cardinal Federico Borromeo, who was appointed abbot of Casanova, also became the lord of Carpineto. In the early 1900's, the inhabitants were about 1400, but in the following decades a massive depopulation began.