What is Pescocostanzo known for?

Merletto al tombolo, made here since the sixteenth century, taught and displayed at the museum in Palazzo Fanzago. The Chapel of the Sacrament gate at the Collegiata, made by Sante di Rocco between 1699 and 1707, is the local masterpiece. Rebuilt from 1456 under the Capua family by Lombard masons, one of the few planned Renaissance mountain towns in Italy.

Where is Pescocostanzo?

Pescocostanzo is a comune in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo region of Italy, about 101 kilometers from Pescara.

Abruzzo · L'Aquila

Pescocostanzo

A planned Renaissance town at 1,395 meters on the Quarto Grande plateau, with bobbin lace, wrought iron, and the wood ceilings of a five-nave church.

1395m

Elevation

101 km / 63 mi

Nearest hub (Pescara)

1,081

Population

Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Pescocostanzo sits at 1,395 meters at the southern edge of the Quarto Grande plateau, the high karst basin above the Sangro valley. The town was reshaped between 1456 and the eighteenth century under the Capua family and a generation of Lombard masons who arrived to build for them. The plan is unusually regular for a mountain commune: a grid of stone houses oriented to the wind, surrounded by woods and pasture. The Collegiata di Santa Maria del Colle, restructured by Cosimo Fanzago in the seventeenth century, is one of the rare five-nave churches in Abruzzo. Its wrought iron Chapel of the Sacrament gate, made by Sante di Rocco between 1699 and 1707, is the masterpiece of local ironwork. Bobbin lace, merletto al tombolo, is still made here. The Museo del Merletto a Tombolo inside Palazzo Fanzago shows the technique and the patterns. Filigree gold, carved wood, and lace are still sold on the Corso Roma.

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Gallery

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Known for

Collegiata di Santa Maria del Colle
Five-nave church begun in the late Middle Ages and remodeled by Cosimo Fanzago in the seventeenth century.
Museo del Merletto a Tombolo
Inside Palazzo Fanzago, displays the local bobbin lace tradition with patterns, tools, and live demonstrations.
Palazzo Fanzago
Designed by the baroque architect Cosimo Fanzago in 1624, the seat of the lace museum and civic offices.
Piazza del Municipio
Heart of the planned Renaissance grid, surrounded by stone palazzi and the eighteenth-century town hall.
Bosco di Sant'Antonio
Centuries-old beech and maple forest 3 km from the town, with monumental trees protected since 1985.
Monte Calvario - Vetta d'Italia ski area
Small ski station above town connected to the Alto Sangro system at Roccaraso and Rivisondoli.

When to visit

Best months · Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

December through March brings snow and the ski season, with the Monte Calvario lifts linking to the Alto Sangro system at Roccaraso and Rivisondoli twenty minutes away. June through September is the second season. At 1,395 meters Pescocostanzo rarely crosses twenty-two degrees even in August, and the Bosco di Sant'Antonio offers beech-shaded walks. April, May, October, and November are the off months. Many hotels close. The lace school and the church stay open. The Mostra Mercato dell'Artigianato Artistico, the artisan fair, fills the streets in mid-August with lace, wrought iron, gold filigree, and carved wood from the local workshops.