St. Angelo del Pesco

St. Angelo del Pesco Is minute, made up of little things. The road to the village from Pescopennataro is imbued with beauty. One descends, filling one’s eyes with rocky, wild landscapes like those on which Gamberale and Pizzoferrato rest, on the other side of the Sangro Valley, which can be reached in a few minutes. The orchards of native organic apples that surround the village give the sweet scents of spring, which comes a little later here. At high altitude, the Soprani Fir Forest is a nature reserve declared a SCI area, rich in nature trails that fall, in part, also in the territory of Pescopennataro. The “soprano” fir is the white spruce, now extremely rare in other places in Italy and here, however, still very present. The entrance to the village is dense with small, pretty houses lining the road. In the small central square, everything is in miniature: the Town Hall, the bar, the exit chairs, the belvedere, the flower pots, the pretty church of St. Michael the Archangel, the patron saint. Here, the Germans hit hard, and the village was rebuilt after World War II while preserving the urban texture and traditional types. Only the war memorial, still in the square and built in 1926, was miraculously saved. Beautiful and striking is the covered stone washhouse, the work of skilled local craftsmen. Worth visiting is the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the spiritual heart of the community, just outside the village. Existing since the 16th century next to the old cemetery, it was the protagonist of numerous historical episodes and was enlarged and rebuilt several times. In 1863, fire caused by lightning destroyed the icon of Our Lady, which was replaced by a huge painting that is still an object of devotion.

According to a touching local tradition, the Church of Carmel was enlarged thanks to the contributions of all fellow citizens. Despite the tiring days in the countryside, on their return, every villager brought a stone to the sacred place, which was used for the building work in 1820.