Pescina: Silone, history and landscape

Pescina invites you to explore its literary history, sacred architecture and landscape together. Places associated with Ignazio Silone stand alongside churches and a fortress with Roman roots. The area’s location in relation to two protected areas also gives the landscape a distinctive regional context.

Landscape and protected-area connections

The northeastern part of Pescina’s territory lies within the Sirente-Velino Regional Nature Park. On the southeastern slope, an area lies within the outer boundary zone of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park. These two connections are not the same: one concerns part of the territory within a regional park, the other the outer boundary zone of a national park. If the landscape is your deciding factor, these different connections can shape how you see Pescina.

Ignazio Silone and literary traces

An important literary point of reference is Ignazio Silone, the great writer from Pescina. His tomb is at the foot of the Torre di S. Bernardo. The Sentiero Silone is a walking path through history and the places described by Silone; here, literature becomes a starting point for getting to know Pescina through the experience of a walk.

The Museo Silone is housed in the former monastery of the Conventual Franciscans. The same building hosts the Premio Internazionale Ignazio Silone each year. Another place to explore Silone’s work is the Silone Archive at the Centro Studi di Pescina: it contains more than 10,000 documents and is generally open for consultation. Excluded are material that has not yet been arranged and catalogued, and documents classified as confidential or in poor condition.

Museums, churches and earlier history

The Casa Museo Mazzarino displays numerous documents about the life and work of Cardinal Mazzarino. It is housed in a building in the upper historic centre, close to the tomb of Ignazio Silone. In Pescina, different figures and forms of historical remembrance thus stand side by side.

The churches, too, tell different chapters of the town’s history. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria delle Grazie is the only church in the Marsica to hold the title “Concattedrale dei Marsi”. It was consecrated in 1606; as early as 1580, a papal bull issued by Gregory XIII had officially designated it as the seat of the Diocese of the Marsi.

The Chiesa di San Francesco probably dates from before 1200. During his visit to Pescina, Francis of Assisi had the monastery adjoining the church built. Inside, visitors can see a Baroque choir, valuable engravings and paintings, and the surviving part of an organ. The Castello di Pescina is connected with the Rocca Vecchia: this fortification was built in Roman times and reinforced during the Social War on the acropolis of Plaestinia. The Torre di Pescina, in turn, belonged to a system of three outer watch and control towers that monitored a strategic section of the important trade route along the Giovenco River.

Plan your visit and choose accommodation

Opening hours listed for the Museo Silone are Monday to Friday, 10 am to 1 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and 3 pm to 5 pm. The listed hours for the Casa Museo Mazzarino are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 2 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 9 am to 12 pm. Before visiting, check whether these hours are still current and whether public access is available. Pescina is accessible via the A25/E80 motorway.

When looking for a holiday apartment, your interests can guide your search: are Silone and the churches your main focus, or would you rather give more weight to the area’s landscape connections?

Discover more destinations:Vittorito, Cappadocia, Poggio Picenze, Balsorano Nuovo, Corfinio, Ofena, Scanzano, Villavallelonga.

For the regional travel overview: L-Aquila.