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Fara Filiorum Petri | Print |
Elevation : 225 meters
Population: 1950
Zip code : 66010

Fara Filorum Petri in situated in the Val di Foro and the economy of this town is based mostly in agriculture. The town was built on top of hill for protection purposes. The town was also surrounded by two rivers (Foro and Vesola).  These two rivers provided a big strategic advantage in defending and preventing attacks by invaders.

Fara filorium petri.jpgHISTORICAL FACTS
The name of the town means : Hamlet of Pietro’s sons because during the medieval times, this town belonged to the Monestary of Montecassino. Fara Filorum Petri’s name surfaced around the 9th century, in the documents of the Montecassino. But the records don’t show that the area was populated by the Byzantines and fara had many artisans working in town. For example there were many dye houses and mills, thanks to the abundance of water in the vicinities. In the 1400s the town was passed on the De Riccardis and then to Filippo Colonna (duke of Tagliacozzo), Raimondo di Cardona, Di Capua, Giovanni Battista Spinelli(count of Carioti) and finally back again Colonna until the end of the feudalism.

WHAT TO SEE
-    There is the antique city door, which is an arch of town. Kind of interesting to see how the town where built and then fortified with walls and doorways. Here, you can see what ever is left of the main entrance.
-    If you walk around town, you will be able to see the palaces that were built with a late baroque typical Abruzzo style. Also the liberty style of the “ferro battuto” blacksmith work.
-    Churches of S.Salvatore, Sant’Agta, Santa Eufemia, Sant’Antonio ai Colli, Sant’Antonio Abata, San Rocco and Madonna del Ponte. A way to measure the wealth of a town, you could just count the number of churches. If the number of churches per capita was high, that means the town was very rich. Obviuosly, this hamlet was doing very well.


farchie.jpg
FARCHIE (an event not to be missed)
The legend says a miracle of San Antonio during the French invasion in 1799. Fara Filorum Petri, back in the days was surrounded by huge oak groves. When the French wanted to invade the hamlet with their soldiers, San Antonio, in the clothes of a general stopped them by telling them not to pass the city limits. Since the French disobeyed the orders, the legend says that all the trees went on fire and the French ran away and never came back.
The Farchie are a collection of wild bamboo sticks that grow around here.  These dry sticks are wrapped with a flexible tree branch, with a diameter between 70 cm up to one meter. The height must be between 7 to 9 meters. They are then carried around town and finally deposited in front of the San Antonio church. They are lit up with firecrackers at the same time and the longest lasting, the best looking, the one that has the best knots, and a cool looking fire wins the price of the “farchia migliore”. This happens on the January 16th . It’s really a huge event.

FESTIVALS
16th January: Farchie

TOWNS NEARBY
Casacanditella
Vacri
Villamagna


 
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