CASTELLI & SANCTUARY OF S. GABRIELE

Located just below the peaks of Mount Camicia, Castelli is one of the most important tourism Abruzzo. And home to famous ceramists, who served the kings of Naples and princely roman villas. Best known for its craft shops, Castelli is renamed "City of Ceramic" owes its of this art, which dates back to XIII Century. And since then that the small, but picturesque village at the foot of Gran Sasso, has been handed down from father to son, this art fine.

In San Gabriele religiosity Abruzzo, through the millennia, he finished off the expressions of devotion in some major shrines. The first, where every year arrive more than two million people, is at the foot of the Gran Sasso and is dedicated to a young Passionist Saint. His name is St. Gabriel. The fame of San Gabriele exploded in 1892 when his remains were exhumed and on his thumb the first clamorous prodigies occurred. In 1920 he was proclaimed a saint and in 1959 Pope John XXIII declared him patron saint of Abruzzo.

 distanCE 80 km - 1 hour trip