Brittoli began as a castrum of the abbey of San Bartolomeo at Carpineto, which was the first to hold the castles of the Nora valley. The village already existed in 962, when it is first named, and its oldest core is laid out in an egg shape around Palazzo Pagliccia, which was the fortified castle. It mattered because trade on the eastern side of the Gran Sasso passed through here, and it belonged to a system of watchtowers together with the tower of Forca di Penne.
The monastery's chronicle tells how the castle came back to the monks. In 1090 the lord who held it wanted to leave for the first crusade and put it up for sale; on the point of buying it was Guglielmo di Tascione, Norman count of Loreto Aprutino. Abbot Sansone, who was the brother of the previous owner, took the sum out of the monastery treasury and beat him to it: to raise it, the story says, the silver top of the high altar was broken up with hammer blows. Palazzo Pagliccia, damaged by the earthquake of 2009, has since been restored.
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📅 Every year, on 5 August
On 5 August Brittoli, a municipality of 335 inhabitants in the province of Pescara, celebrates its patroness Our Lady of the Snows (Nostra Signora della Neve).
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 Brittoli, but an easy day trip away.
