Atri, Italy
Encyclopedia
Atri is a comune
in the Province of Teramo
in the Abruzzo
region of Italy
. It has a population of over 11,500 (2001). Atri is the setting of the story The Bell of Atri.
, situated about 10 km from the Adriatic Sea
, between the rivers Vomanus (modern Vomano
) and Matrinus (modern Piomba
). According to the Antonine Itinerary
it was distant 15 Roman miles from Castrum Novum, and 14 from Teate (modern Chieti
). (Itin. Ant. pp. 308, 310, 313; comp. Tab. Peut.
) It has been supposed, with much probability, to be of Etruscan
origin, and a colony from the more celebrated city of the name, now Adria
in the Veneto
region, though we have no historical evidence of the fact. It belonged to the Praetutii
for a time.
The city was founded by Greek
s from Aegina
and reestablished by Dionysius I the tyrant of Syracuse in the 4th century BC.
The first certain historical notice we find of Adria is the establishment of a Roman
colony there about 282 BCE. In the early part of the Second Punic War
(217 BCE) its territory was ravaged by Hannibal; but notwithstanding this calamity, it was one of the 18 Latin colonies which, in 209 BCE, were faithful to the cause of Rome, and willing to continue their contributions both of men and money. At a later period, as we learn from the Liber de Coloniis, it must have received a fresh colony, probably under Augustus
: hence it is termed a Colonia, both by Pliny
and in inscriptions. One of these gives it the titles of Colonia Aelia Hadria, whence it would appear that it had been re-established by the emperor Hadrian
, whose family was originally derived from hence, though he was himself a native of Spain
.
The territory of Adria (ager Adrianus), though subsequently included in Picenum, appears to have originally formed a separate and independent district, bounded on the north by the river Vomanus (Vomano), and on the south by the Matrinus (la Piomba); at the mouth of this latter river was a town bearing the name of Matrinum, which served as the port of Adria; the city itself stood on a hill a few miles inland, on the same site still occupied by the modern Atri, a place of some consideration, with the title of a city, and the see of a bishop
. Great part of the circuit of the ancient walls may be still traced, and mosaic pavements and other remains of buildings are also preserved. According to the Antonine Itinerary
Adria (which may have been the original terminus of the Via Caecilia
), was the point of junction of the Via Salaria
and Via Valeria
, a circumstance which probably contributed to its importance and flourishing condition under the Roman Empire
.
After the fall of Rome, the region was subjected, along with most of northern and central Italy, to a long period of violent conflict. Ultimately, in the 6th century, the Lombards
succeeded in establishing hegemony over the area, and Atri and other parts of Abruzzo found themselves annexed to the Duchy of Spoleto
. The Lombards were displaced by the Normans, whose noble Acquaviva family ruled on the town for decades from about 1393, before merging their lands into the Kingdom of Naples
. The rule of the Acquaivivas marked the highpoint of Atri's greatest power and splendor.
, and are even among the heaviest specimens known, exceeding in weight the most ancient Roman aeses. On this account they have been assigned to a very remote antiquity, some referring them to the Etruscan, others to the Greek, settlers. But there seems much reason to believe that they are not really so ancient, and belong, in fact, to the Roman colony, which was founded previous to the general reduction of the Italian brass coinage.
The ancient name has been also described as the source from which the Adriatic Sea derived its name. Others maintain the Sea was named for the city now called Adria
, an Etruscan
city in Veneto
region.
church, and the Palazzo Ducale, the palace of the Acquaviva's which is built on the highest point of land in the city.
The Cathedral incorporates a 56 meter high campanile, or bell tower, and a very handsome cloister. Inside is a frescoes cycle by the 15th century Abruzzi painter Andrea de Litio (or Delitio). The Diocesian museum is also located in the Cathedral. The crypt of the cathedral of the modern town was originally a large Roman cistern; another forms the foundation of the ducal palace; and in the eastern portion of the town there is a complicated system of underground passages for collecting and storing water. The Palazzo Ducale now houses offices of both the municipal and Provincial (Teramo) governments.
There are remnants of the medieval walls with three gates, the Porta Macelli, the Porta San Domenico and the Capo d'Atri. Also worth seeing is the Museo Capitolare, the Chiesa San Francesco which features a flight of stairs in the Baroque style, and the Chiesa San Domenico which contains two 17th century paintings by Giacomo Farelli.
Other sights include an array of old churches among them San Agostino (14th century); San Nicola; Santa Chiara (13th century); Santo Spirito (12th - 18th century); and San Andrea Apostolo (14th century). Among the fountains in the centro are the Fonte Pila and the Fonte della Strega. There are a number of very ancient and still unexplored grottoes, and remains of a Roman theatre.
The Villa Comunale, a municipal park and garden provides a place to stroll and rest under its shade trees. The Belvedere off the Viale Vomano offers panoramic views of the valleys and sea below.
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the Province of Teramo
Province of Teramo
The Province of Teramo is located in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Teramo. The province has an area of 1,948 km², a population of 296,063 , and is subdivided into 47 comunes , see Comunes of the Province of Teramo...
in the Abruzzo
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a region in Italy, its western border lying less than due east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, and the Adriatic Sea to the east...
region of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. It has a population of over 11,500 (2001). Atri is the setting of the story The Bell of Atri.
History
Ancient Adria was a city of PicenumPicenum
Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name is an exonym assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum was the birthplace of such notables as Pompey the Great and his father Pompeius Strabo. It was situated in what is now Marche...
, situated about 10 km from the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
, between the rivers Vomanus (modern Vomano
Vomano
The Vomano is a 76 km Italian river, which runs through Montorio al Vomano and Roseto degli Abruzzi in region of Abruzzo. It rises from Monte San Franco in Gran Sasso and enters the sea at Roseto degli Abruzzi....
) and Matrinus (modern Piomba
Piomba
The Piomba is an Italian river in Abruzzo. The source of the river is near Cermignano in the province of Teramo. The river flows southeast past Cellino Attanasio before entering the province of Pescara. The river flows close to the border with Teramo before it enters the Adriatic Sea north of the...
). According to the Antonine Itinerary
Antonine Itinerary
The Antonine Itinerary is a register of the stations and distances along the various roads of the Roman empire, containing directions how to get from one Roman settlement to another...
it was distant 15 Roman miles from Castrum Novum, and 14 from Teate (modern Chieti
Chieti
Chieti is a city and comune in Central Italy, 200 km northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region...
). (Itin. Ant. pp. 308, 310, 313; comp. Tab. Peut.
Tabula Peutingeriana
The Tabula Peutingeriana is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map of which this is a unique copy was last revised in the fourth or early fifth century. It covers Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa...
) It has been supposed, with much probability, to be of Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
origin, and a colony from the more celebrated city of the name, now Adria
Adria
Adria is a town and comune in the province of Rovigo in the Veneto region of Northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers Adige and Po....
in the Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
region, though we have no historical evidence of the fact. It belonged to the Praetutii
Praetutii
The Praetutii , were an ancient tribe of central Italy. They are thought to have lived around Interamnia , which became modern Teramo, and to have given their name to the Abruzzo...
for a time.
The city was founded by Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
s from Aegina
Aegina
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island. During ancient times, Aegina was a rival to Athens, the great sea power of the era.-Municipality:The municipality...
and reestablished by Dionysius I the tyrant of Syracuse in the 4th century BC.
The first certain historical notice we find of Adria is the establishment of a Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
colony there about 282 BCE. In the early part of the Second Punic War
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...
(217 BCE) its territory was ravaged by Hannibal; but notwithstanding this calamity, it was one of the 18 Latin colonies which, in 209 BCE, were faithful to the cause of Rome, and willing to continue their contributions both of men and money. At a later period, as we learn from the Liber de Coloniis, it must have received a fresh colony, probably under Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
: hence it is termed a Colonia, both by Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
and in inscriptions. One of these gives it the titles of Colonia Aelia Hadria, whence it would appear that it had been re-established by the emperor Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, whose family was originally derived from hence, though he was himself a native of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
The territory of Adria (ager Adrianus), though subsequently included in Picenum, appears to have originally formed a separate and independent district, bounded on the north by the river Vomanus (Vomano), and on the south by the Matrinus (la Piomba); at the mouth of this latter river was a town bearing the name of Matrinum, which served as the port of Adria; the city itself stood on a hill a few miles inland, on the same site still occupied by the modern Atri, a place of some consideration, with the title of a city, and the see of a bishop
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
. Great part of the circuit of the ancient walls may be still traced, and mosaic pavements and other remains of buildings are also preserved. According to the Antonine Itinerary
Antonine Itinerary
The Antonine Itinerary is a register of the stations and distances along the various roads of the Roman empire, containing directions how to get from one Roman settlement to another...
Adria (which may have been the original terminus of the Via Caecilia
Via Caecilia
Via Caecilia, an ancient highroad of Italy, which diverged from the Via Salaria at the 35th mile from Rome, and ran by Amiternum to the Adriatic coast, passing probably by Hadria...
), was the point of junction of the Via Salaria
Via Salaria
The Via Salaria was an ancient Roman road in Italy.It eventually ran from Rome to Castrum Truentinum on the Adriatic coast - a distance of 242 km. The road also passed through Reate and Asculum...
and Via Valeria
Via Valeria
The Via Valeria was an ancient Roman road of Italy, the continuation north-eastwards of the Via Tiburtina. It probably owed its origin to Marcus Valerius Messalla, censor in 154 BC...
, a circumstance which probably contributed to its importance and flourishing condition under the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
.
After the fall of Rome, the region was subjected, along with most of northern and central Italy, to a long period of violent conflict. Ultimately, in the 6th century, the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
succeeded in establishing hegemony over the area, and Atri and other parts of Abruzzo found themselves annexed to the Duchy of Spoleto
Duchy of Spoleto
The independent Duchy of Spoleto was a Lombard territory founded about 570 in central Italy by the Lombard dux Faroald.- Lombards :The Lombards, a Germanic people, had invaded Italy in 568 and conquered much of it, establishing a Kingdom divided between several dukes dependent on the King, who had...
. The Lombards were displaced by the Normans, whose noble Acquaviva family ruled on the town for decades from about 1393, before merging their lands into the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
. The rule of the Acquaivivas marked the highpoint of Atri's greatest power and splendor.
Ancient coinage
It is now generally admitted, that the coins of Adria (with the legend "HAT.") belong to the city of Picenum, not that of the Veneto; but great difference of opinion has been entertained as to their age. They belong to the class commonly known as aes graveAes grave
Aes grave is a term in numismatics indicating bronze cast coins used in central Italy during the 4th and 5th centuries BC, whose value was generally indicated by signs: I for the as, S for semis and pellets for unciae...
, and are even among the heaviest specimens known, exceeding in weight the most ancient Roman aeses. On this account they have been assigned to a very remote antiquity, some referring them to the Etruscan, others to the Greek, settlers. But there seems much reason to believe that they are not really so ancient, and belong, in fact, to the Roman colony, which was founded previous to the general reduction of the Italian brass coinage.
Name
Some historians say that the city was founded by the Illyrians in the eleventh century BCE. They think that the city Atri was named after the Illyrian god Hatranus (Hatrani).The ancient name has been also described as the source from which the Adriatic Sea derived its name. Others maintain the Sea was named for the city now called Adria
Adria
Adria is a town and comune in the province of Rovigo in the Veneto region of Northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers Adige and Po....
, an Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
city in Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
region.
Main sights
The most important monuments in Atri include the 13th century Duomo - the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, which was built on the remains of an earlier RomanesqueRomanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
church, and the Palazzo Ducale, the palace of the Acquaviva's which is built on the highest point of land in the city.
The Cathedral incorporates a 56 meter high campanile, or bell tower, and a very handsome cloister. Inside is a frescoes cycle by the 15th century Abruzzi painter Andrea de Litio (or Delitio). The Diocesian museum is also located in the Cathedral. The crypt of the cathedral of the modern town was originally a large Roman cistern; another forms the foundation of the ducal palace; and in the eastern portion of the town there is a complicated system of underground passages for collecting and storing water. The Palazzo Ducale now houses offices of both the municipal and Provincial (Teramo) governments.
There are remnants of the medieval walls with three gates, the Porta Macelli, the Porta San Domenico and the Capo d'Atri. Also worth seeing is the Museo Capitolare, the Chiesa San Francesco which features a flight of stairs in the Baroque style, and the Chiesa San Domenico which contains two 17th century paintings by Giacomo Farelli.
Other sights include an array of old churches among them San Agostino (14th century); San Nicola; Santa Chiara (13th century); Santo Spirito (12th - 18th century); and San Andrea Apostolo (14th century). Among the fountains in the centro are the Fonte Pila and the Fonte della Strega. There are a number of very ancient and still unexplored grottoes, and remains of a Roman theatre.
The Villa Comunale, a municipal park and garden provides a place to stroll and rest under its shade trees. The Belvedere off the Viale Vomano offers panoramic views of the valleys and sea below.