Pescina, 735 m: Silone’s town at the gateway to the Park

Pescina stands on the eastern edge of the Fucino plain, at the mouth of the Giovenco valley. The north-eastern part of the municipality lies in the Sirente-Velino Regional Park, while the south-eastern slopes border the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park. The municipality also includes Venere, with its 13th-century tower, and Cardito.

The earthquake of 13 January 1915 destroyed the town: about 5,000 of its 6,000 inhabitants died. Among the survivors was fourteen-year-old Secondino Tranquilli, who would become the writer Ignazio Silone.

Ignazio Silone house museum

In the highest part of the old village, the writer’s birthplace has housed the museum since 2021, with documents, first editions of his works and the private library donated by his wife Darina Laracy. It opens by appointment, except in summer: call ahead (379 334 6637).

Mazarin house museum

At the foot of the fortifications, the house museum opened in 1972 tells the story of Giulio Mazzarino, born in Pescina in 1602 and chief minister of France under Louis XIV, with a rich library and documents on his life.

The basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie

Built between 1579 and 1596, it was the cathedral of the diocese of the Marsi until 1924, when the see moved to Avezzano; it has been a basilica since 2016. It has a façade with an arcaded portico and a large bell tower, and keeps the relics of Saint Berardo, patron saint of the town.

The towers and Silone’s grave

Above the town stands the pentagonal Piccolomini tower, the «Rocca Vecchia», with the remains of the castle walls. Lower down, the San Berardo tower, the old bell tower, has Ignazio Silone’s grave at its foot; he died in 1978. In the town there are also the church of Sant’Antonio di Padova, linked to the convent Saint Francis had built in 1225, and the Teatro San Francesco with the Silone study centre.

The places of «Fontamara»

Along the Marsicana road is the drinking fountain that, according to tradition, inspired the title of Silone’s most famous novel. In 1979 Carlo Lizzani shot the film «Fontamara» in the oldest part of the village.

The Silone Trail, opened in 2015 and linked to the literary park dedicated to the writer, crosses the places described in his books, between 700 and 1,000 metres. The Giovenco valley has a cycling and walking path that follows the river up towards Ortona dei Marsi and the villages of the National Park; just outside the town a weir forms the small Giovenco lake, where brown trout are fished.

Above Venere, at the Rupe di Cardito, the Tronci cave and the Maurizio shelter have yielded traces of Upper Palaeolithic people from about 18,000 years ago.

Pescina has no lifts of its own. The nearest slopes are at Ovindoli on Monte Magnola, about 24 km away via Celano. Along the Marsicana road you climb instead to Pescasseroli, about 40 km away, in the heart of the National Park. Snow and lifts open today in the snow report.

• 2 May: patron feast of Saint Berardo.
• 3 November: pilgrimage to Colli di Monte Bove, the saint’s birthplace.
• Ignazio Silone Prize: international prize founded in 1988 for visual arts, music and writing.

From the plain come the Fucino potato and carrot (PGI); from the mountains lamb and mutton, as in lamb coratella, and the truffles of the Marsica. More products in Flavours of the parks, all the recipes in traditional Abruzzo cuisine.

By car: A25 Rome – Pescara motorway, Pescina exit; Rome is about 120 km away. From the town the SS83 Marsicana road leads to Pescasseroli and the National Park. By train: Pescina station, on the Rome – Sulmona – Pescara line, is a few kilometres from the centre. Avezzano is about 21 km away, Celano 14. Getting around Abruzzo.

• Municipality of Pescina: 0863 84281 · municipal website
• Ignazio Silone house museum: 379 334 6637
• Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118

• Celano, with the Piccolomini castle and the Gorge
• Aielli and Cerchio
• Avezzano and the Marsica
• Pescasseroli and the villages of the Abruzzo National Park
• The villages of the Marsica, Velino and Magnola