Tuesday 11th October

Today we planned to go to L’Aquila to see how much of the devastation from the earthquake in 2009 Had been repaired. This morning we had the first rain of the time we have spent here. The clouds were really low over the mountains and the rain fell heavily for a while and then eased off. We had a quick breakfast of fruit and coffee and just before we were due to set off, Stefania came down with an umbrella for us. By the time we left the house, the rain had eased a bit and we got to the car, fairly dry. We drove off and got on the autostrada where we had a really heavy downpour for a few minutes and then it cleared up and the rest of the day was dry with even some sunny spells.

We arrived at L’Aquila at about 11 a.m. and sought a parking space which was not easy to find in the center. So after a bit of driving around we found space right next to the Basilica Santa Maria di Collemaggio an enormous edifice which had been badly damaged in the earthquake and which had been substantially and amazingly restored. It bids a huge cavernous space in which Pope Celestine V is buried. The ground breaking for the church was 1287. It is said to be a masterpiece of Abruzzese, Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Parts of the building were substantially damaged in 2009 and the church was only reopened in 2017.

From Wikipedia:

Santa Maria di Collemaggio is a large medieval church in L'Aquila, central Italy. It was the site of the original Papal Jubilee, a penitential observation devised by Pope Celestine V, who is buried there. The church, which therefore ranks as a basilica because of its importance in religious history, sits in isolation at the end of a long rectangular sward of grass at the southwest edge of the town.

The church is a masterpiece of Abruzzese Romanesque and Gothic architecture and one of the chief sights of L'Aquila. The striking jewel-box effect of the exterior is due to a pattern of blocks of alternating pink and white stone; the interior, on the other hand, is massive and austere. Outbuildings include a colonnaded cloister, with the central fountain typical of many other similar Italian cloisters, and the former monastic refectory.

Parts of the structure were significantly damaged in the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila and the church was reopened in 2017.

In 1274, while traveling through L'Aquila, a hermit from Morrone named Pietro, founder of the Celestine Order, spent the night on a nearby hill, the Colle di Maggio, and had a dream in which the Virgin Mary, surrounded by angels at the top of a golden stairway, asked him to build a church there in her honor. In 1287 the Celestines bought the land, started construction the following year, and consecrated the still-unfinished church in 1289. The hill that gave its name to the church no longer exists, the valley between it and the city having been filled in during the 19th century; further adjustments to the local topography were made in the 1930s to improve accessibility to the church.

On August 29, 1294, Pietro da Morrone was crowned Pope there, as Celestine V, and as part of his coronation instituted a plenary pardon of sins for all who would visit the church, confessed and repentant, on 28 and 29 August of any year. The "Celestinian Forgiveness" (in Italian: Perdonanza Celestiniana) is widely viewed by church historians as the immediate ancestor of the Jubilee and Holy Year instituted only six years later by Pope Boniface VIII; and it is still celebrated at the church, thousands of pilgrims converging on L'Aquila for it every year. A Holy Door similar to the one in Rome was added to the church in the 14th century; a fresco in the lunette appropriately depicts the Virgin and Child, St. John the Baptist and St. Celestine.

The church continued to be embellished during the Middle Ages, impetus being provided by the canonization of St. Celestine in 1313 and the translation of his relics in 1327.

Interior view before the 2009 earthquake

The dome of Santa Maria di Collemaggio collapsed in the 1461 L'Aquila earthquake.^[1] A wall of the church collapsed in the earthquake that hit L'Aquila on April 6, 2009. In the first post-quake images of the area, the facade of the church still stands behind the restoration scaffolding. Cracks have appeared in some areas of the walls. The most severe damage to the basilica was the roof and dome collapse over the transept and part of the choir. The tomb of Pope Celestine was also damaged.^[2] Works for the restoration of the building were concluded in 2017 and since then the church is open to the public.

There are a number of 'caminos' which start here and are religious pilgrimages, some many miles long.

The special Porta Santa which is only opened on one day a year.

St Celestin's tomb

After this we went to the main square where we could see many of the main. Buildings which we had seen under repair in our earlier visit. Many had been repaired but there was much scaffolding still in evidence which indicated much work still remains.

The partially restored center of L'Aquila

We stopped briefly at a Torrone shop and I bought some for presents when we get back home.

This is some history of Sorelle e Fratelli Nurzia a very old torrone store in L'Aquila:

L'AQUILA - In the 1901 catalog, Nurzia chocolate nougat was sold at a price of 5 lire per kilogram. The history of the Nurzia family is a century long, marked over the years by courage, great craftsmanship, resourcefulness and bitter family quarrels, an intense experience that has led to the creation of a unique product known all over the world, winner of prizes, medals and praise, like that of Pope Pius X, as the Treccani encyclopedia also remembers.

Nurzia was the first soft chocolate nougat in Italy, a "revolution" in the confectionery sector compared to the classic nougat on the market, white and hard with almonds. The tender consistency of Nurzia nougat, still exclusive today and a trademark of L'Aquila production, has thus crossed national borders. A disruptive success for the small economic reality of a pastoral mountain center such as L’Aquila in those days.

To conquer the market not only the goodness of the product but also the precious wrapping and the refined boxes, with the image of a prosperous and elegantly dressed woman in Parisian style, who from the beginning contributed with style to the rampant notoriety of the chocolate tender. .

The story begins between 1700 and 1800 when Gennaro Nurzia, a native of Arischia, opens a shop where he distils liqueurs, his China production is among the most popular and sold spirits of the time. His son Francesco Saverio, in 1835, inaugurated the Antica Pasticceria Nurzia in the heart of Piazza Duomo, restored in the style of Parisian cafes with the frescoes of Carlo Patrignani, a pupil of the painter Teofilo Patini, still today the headquarters, under renovation, of the Fratelli production. Nurzia.

The ingenious intuition of nougat, however, comes from one of Xavier's five sons, Ulysses, author with his inspiration of the fine recipe of soft nougat with clear fractures. Flattered by the proposals of many companies interested in taking over the brand and on the strength of the result obtained, Ulysses also tries to extend the production of nougat in Milan but without the climate, air and water of the Gran Sasso the result is disappointing. L'Aquila is the only homeland that soft nougat can have.

But when and why does the split between Nurzia brothers and sisters begin?

It was in the 1940s that Ulysses, intending to retire from business, decided to leave his business in the hands of his sons Tito, Ada and Ines. Worried about the youthful exuberance of his male son, he bequeathed to his unborn grandchildren, Ulysses junior and Giovanni, sons of Tito, the shop in Piazza Duomo, the laboratory and the family home in the historic center, to his daughters Ada and Ines instead he donated the its patents and the possibility of using the Nurzia brand.

It was then that two different nougat productions began: that of the Nurzia Brothers and that of the Nurzia Sisters, as it is still today.

In spite of paternal fears, Tito continued the confectionery production under the name of Antica Azienda F.lli Nurzia, Ada and Ines instead under the name Sorelle Nurzia. At the beginning of the 1960s Ines decided to sell its share to the brothers Corrado, Paolo and Vincenzo Farroni, important food wholesalers.

The competition became very fierce, a "war" to the sound of copied packaging, provocative posters with the words "The Unmistakable" and legal disputes with which, however, the court recognized both companies the right to produce nougat using each one own packaging."

Then we set off for the short trip to Locanda Mariella where we had eaten four years ago. This is a small hotel about 15 or 20 minutes drive from L’Aquila. We arrived and the restaurant was fairly empty except for a large table of about 8 men. We ordered the antipasto which is huge and very filling. There are lentils, liver, cold meats, cheeses, beans, fried pizza and vegetables, tripe and other items too numerous to mention. This is enough to feed several people and we managed to eat a fair amount of it but could not complete all of it. I did manage to eat a main course of some delicious lamb roasted on the grill. Fortunately, the portion was modest as I doubt that I could have eaten more! The we wended our way home. MAC wrote to Stefania and told her that we really did n to need any dinner but she immediately replied that she had bought fish and that no dinner was not on the cards!!. Then we ran into a rain shower and were blessed with a stunning rainbow right across the road which we simply had to stop and photograph.

Abruzesse rainbow

We drove to the Megalo  shopping center at Chieti and bought some items at Tiger, (the Danish Knicknack store) for our dinner with Monika and her son tomorrow evening. Then it was home for a rest before the dinner we do not really need! Diet is not in the Italian vocabulary.

MAC went out for a short walk which alerted every dog in the neighborhood!! There it was dinner, which consisted of a huge dish of pasta with mussels and clams and Stefania’s special tomato sauce. It was super delicious but way more than we needed after our huge lunch. This was followed by some oven cooked spigola or sea bass with a potato purée, also delicious. The meal was rounded off with a bocconotti frentano which we had bought at the honey festival a couple of days ago. Then we lumbered off to bed swearing that we would eat NOTHING the next day!!