Cansano is the sequel to a town that no longer exists. In the Zeppe-Pandaro district the Paeligni had founded Ocriticum, which the Romans took and placed under Sulmona; when in the later Middle Ages the place emptied, its people built themselves a stronghold on the promontory to the east, and that is the village of today. Of Ocriticum there remain the temples of Jupiter and Hercules and a shrine of Ceres and Venus, and it has become an archaeological park. The name, on the other hand, comes from the estate of a certain Cantius, and in the nineteenth century it was written Canzano Peligno so as not to confuse it with Canzano Pretuzio, that is the Canzano near Teramo.
As a comune Cansano has had a restless life: within a single century it was a hamlet of Introdacqua, then of Pacentro, then independent again, then once more of Pacentro, then of Campo di Giove, and only in 1904 did it take back its town hall for good. Moving the houses was the work of earthquakes: the Maiella earthquake of 1706 brought deaths and destruction, and that of 1933 made the little left of the castle disappear and brought down the top of the knoll, so that the village came further down the slope, around Piazza XX Settembre.
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📅 Every year, on 24 June
On 24 June Cansano, a municipality of 282 inhabitants in the province of L'Aquila, celebrates its patron Saint John the Baptist with the procession of the statue to the church of San Rocco.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Cansano, but an easy day trip away.
