Popoli was born to watch a gorge. The first settlement was never a Roman town but a pagus, a village of huts controlling the passage between the valley of the Aterno and that of the Pescara, and it was called Pagus Fabianus until about 800. The castle came later, and it came by contract: the abbey of San Clemente a Casauria, sacked more than once, came to terms with a warrior named Gerardo, giving him the lands of Popoli and Tocco so that he would build a stronghold there and protect the monastery. From that castle's medieval name, Castrum Pauperum, worn down over the centuries, came Popoli.
Frederick II placed it in 1233 in the Giustizierato d'Abruzzo, and from 1284 the town was the stronghold of the Cantelmo, who held it until 1749: standing where the three Abruzzi met, Popoli was called the key of the Three Abruzzi. Keys, though, have to be paid for. The Maiella earthquake of 1706 wrecked the castle and pushed the dukes down into their palace in the town; and in 1944 the Royal Air Force bombed twice: on 20 January to bring down the bridge that carried the Rome road towards Pescara, and on 22 March, at midday, on the centre and the town hall, on the very day rations were being handed out and the queue was full of women and children. Ninety-one civilians were killed, and the comune was given the silver medal for civil merit. Since 2023 the town has been called Popoli Terme.
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📅 Every year, on 14 May, with a pilgrimage to the town's churches
Popoli Terme celebrates Saint Boniface on 14 May, with homage paid in the Church of San Francesco, where the saint's relics are kept, and a pilgrimage to the town's main churches.
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 Popoli, but an easy day trip away.
