What is Pescina known for?

Writer born here in 1900, author of Fontamara, set in a thinly disguised Pescina, buried at the foot of the Torre Piccolomini. Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino, born here in 1602, became Cardinal and Prime Minister of France under Louis XIV. The Avezzano quake killed five thousand of six thousand residents on 13 January 1915 and leveled the old upper town.

Pescina is a comune in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo region of Italy, about 95 kilometers from Pescara.

Abruzzo · L'Aquila

Pescina

A Marsica town at 735 meters that lost five thousand of six thousand people in the 1915 earthquake, birthplace of Cardinal Mazarin and Ignazio Silone.

735m

Elevation

95 km / 59 mi

Nearest hub (Pescara)

3,724

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Pescina sits at 735 meters on the rim of the Marsica basin, the dry plain left when Lago Fucino was drained in the nineteenth century. On 13 January 1915 the Avezzano earthquake destroyed nearly everything in town. Five thousand people died out of a population of six thousand. Only the bell tower of San Berardo and a handful of buildings survived. One of those was the house where Ignazio Silone was born in 1900. He wrote Fontamara, set in a thinly disguised Pescina, and L'Avventura di un povero cristiano, and is buried in the village at the foot of the tower. The other native son the town keeps is Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino, born here in 1602, who became Cardinal Mazarin and Prime Minister of France under Louis XIV. Both have museums in the rebuilt town. The Sentiero Silone, a literary trail, runs through the surviving fragments of the old centro storico.

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Gallery

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Known for

Torre Piccolomini
Medieval tower of the ruined upper castle, one of the few structures left standing after the 1915 earthquake.
Centro Studi Ignazio Silone
House where the writer was born in 1900, now a museum holding manuscripts, photographs, and his personal library.
Casa Museo Cardinale Mazzarino
Birthplace of Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino, born 1602, Cardinal and Prime Minister of France under Louis XIV.
Resti del centro storico
Ruins of the upper town destroyed by the 1915 earthquake, accessible along the Sentiero Silone literary trail.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria delle Grazie
Cathedral rebuilt after 1915 in the lower town, seat of the historical diocese of Marsi, with simple post-quake interior.
Parco Naturale Regionale Sirente-Velino
Pescina sits at the southeastern edge of the regional park, with trailheads climbing toward Monte Sirente at 2,348 meters.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is when Pescina works. The Marsica plain is dry and warm in summer, with temperatures pleasant at 735 meters compared to the Fucino basin below. April can be cold and wet, and snow lingers on the surrounding peaks into May. November through March is quiet, with reduced museum hours. The Premio Internazionale Ignazio Silone is awarded each year in late August or early September, drawing writers and scholars to the village. The literary trail walks best in spring and early autumn, when the ruins of the old town show clearly without summer haze.