Aielli

Province: L'Aquila · Region: Abruzzo · Population: 1,458 · Postal code: 67041

The first mention is of 814: the casale of Agello, a possession of the abbey of Farfa, and the document gives the owner's name — a nun called Elena, who had given it to the monastery and takes it back as a leasehold. In 971 Agello is described as a villa, still Farfa's, parcelled out in workable pieces to local vassals; in 1280 it appears among the possessions of the count of Celano. The fortified village took shape in the fourteenth century, from the joining of nine casali: Bovezzo, Musciano, Monte, Ozzanello, Alafrano, Subezzano, Ponderone, Pentòma and Foce. The church of the Santissima Trinità is of 1362, built at the wish of a count of the Marsi. Aielli Alto stands at more than a thousand metres on a limestone spur, it is one of the highest villages of the Marsica, and they call it the balcony of the Marsica.

The earthquake of 1915 killed two hundred and five people here and wrecked the village. It was largely rebuilt lower down, near the railway station, on the site of Alafrano — one of the nine casali that had made the old village. There was an attempt to move the town hall down as well; the people of Aielli Alto revolted, and the town hall stayed where it was. In the new village a rationalist church was built, inaugurated by the prefect in 1937 together with the war memorial beside it: the music for the inauguration was written by monsignor Lorenzo Perosi, the ceramics and the windows are by Tito Chini, the statues by Arturo Dazzi. And in the old village the medieval tower is today an astronomical observatory, open to everyone.

🎉 Festivals and feasts in Aielli 1

Patron saint festival In 264 days

Feast of the Madonna della Vittoria

📅 Every year, on 7 July; the evening procession on 9 May

On 7 July Aielli, a municipality of 1,458 inhabitants in the province of L'Aquila, celebrates its patroness the Madonna della Vittoria with civil and religious patronal celebrations.

What's around

Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.