It is not only the country of big cities, Italy. To make it so special are also its villages, small jewels perched on the mountains. Or maybe overlooking the sea. Or, again, called to shore up fields and hills. Among these there is Campli, sixth place at "Borgo dei Borghi 2021”And a story to be discovered.
Campli, the story
With Vittorio Sgarbi as an honorary citizen, and the composer Enrico Melozzi as the first fan, Campli is truly a place to discover. Site in Abruzzo, in Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, not far from Teramo and with nature surrounding it, Campli belongs to the circuit of the most beautiful villages in Italy. And visiting it is not hard to believe. Campli has been inhabited since ancient times: the Italic necropolis of Campovalano (dated XII - II century BC) testifies to it. But his name appears in official documents only in 1708. What is special about it? His medieval charm. That taste of the past that can be breathed in every corner. The buildings of the fourteenth century draw its center, as well as the sixteenth-century palaces: the House of the Doctor and the Apothecary, the loggias and the decorated facades. Its period of maximum splendor, however, was in the fifteenth century. He lived at that time, in the village, St. John of Capestrano (the founder of the first Observant faith convent).
He is watched over, Campli, since Mount Girella and from Mount Foltrone (which the locals affectionately call "Mountain of Flowers" and "Mountain of Campli"). It is surrounded by Siccagno and Fiumicino. And it has authentic gastronomy with that Festival of the Italic porchetta that every year - since 1964 - the title of "best porchetta of the year".
Get inspired
Any visit to Campli should start from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. This is where the Parliament building, Said Palazzo Farnese, and the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Platea. The first, above all, is the symbol of the village (as well as the oldest civic building in Abruzzo). The second, however, bears witness in its frescoes of the art of Giotto and Raphael. The chapel of Saint Andrew the Apostle even houses a copy of the Visitation (the original is in the Prado Museum in Madrid). Then there is the Holy Stairs which, established in 1772, consists of 28 steps to climb on your knees. Going through it allows you to obtain the Planetary Indulgence, the same that is obtained with the Roman Holy Stairs.
Among the civil buildings, then, a visit to the House of the Doctor and the Apothecary, where once unwanted children were welcomed by families. And which served as a religious building and then as a noble residence. In the ancient Convent of San Francesco you can visit the archaeological Museum while, just outside Campli, the fortified village of Castelnuovo whose Porta Angioina is an extraordinary example of military architecture. Because Campli is exactly like this: a treasure trove of art, culture, surprises. A fascinating corner of Italy, which remains hidden but which conquers.
