LETTOMANOPPELLO

(Pg. 1)

Page 1 (history/photos) Page 2 (history/photos) Page 3 (history/photos) Page 4 (photos) Page 5 (photos) Page 6 (photos) Page 7 (photos: festa) Page 8 (stone-sculpting) Page 9 (Iconicella) Page 10 (people/places) Page 11 (people/places) Page 12 (festa 2000)

Page 13 (Marcinelle) Page 14 (Marcinelle) Page 15 (people/places 2001) Page 16 (people/places 2001) Page 17 (people/places 2001) Page 18 (people/places 2001) Page 19 (people/places 2001) Page 20 (sculpting school) Page 21 (fonte) Page 22 (old photos) Page 23 (history) Page 24 (street map)

Page 25 (people/places 2003) Page 26 (new hotel - La Noce) Page 27 (people/places 2003) Page 28 (people/places 2003) Page 29 (Nino Di Pietrantonio) Page 30 (people/places 2003) Page 31 (Anagrafe / Stato Civile) Page 32 (people/places 2004) Page 33 (people/places 2004) Page 34 (people/places 2004) Page 35 (Church of S. Nicola 2005) Page 36 for future construction

Panoramic view of Lu Lette.

Lettomanoppello's gonfalone (town flag).

Not far from the Adriatic coast, about 21 miles west of the city of Pescara, is the town of Lettomanoppello, known in the local dialect as Lu Lette.  The town's population is about 3000.  Situated on the east bank of the Lavino River, Lettomanoppello is located at the edge of the Maiella National Park, on the lower slopes of La Maielletta, one of the Maiella mountains, at an elevation of 1200 feet.  A road through the town continues up to Blockhaus, almost at the top, an elevation of 7000 feet.  From this vantage point, there are beautiful views into the Majella and into the broad Pescara Valley below. The first  records of Lettomanoppello date back to the 11th century. However, the site was occupied centuries earlier and was renowned in Roman times for its asphalt mines.  The Romans established a colony of African and Asian slaves at Lettomanoppello. The slaves worked the asphalt mines, and the asphalt was transported to the Adriatic Coast on the Aterno River or carried on the backs of animals to Rome.  In 1868 a piece of bitumen (the rock from which asphalt is extracted) was discovered near the Valle Pignatara section of Lettomanoppello; the rock is inscribed in Latin with the name of the owner or operator of the asphalt mine and dates back to the first century A.D.  (The rock is at the Paolo Barrasso Museum in Caramanico Terme, not far from Lettomanoppello) Lettomanoppello has also been known for centuries for its Maiella white stone, quarried in the ravine which separates Lu Lette from its neighbor, Roccamorice.  The ravine was created by the Lavino river, and it is characteristic of the western slopes of the Maiella mountains, all of which are furrowed with such ravines or canyons.  The local white stone can still be obtained from the area for stonecutting crafts and home building, and there are sculptors working with this stone in Lettomanoppello (See Lu Lette Page 8: The Stone Sculpting Tradition).

The Maiella Mountains, seen from Lu Lette, with the ravine that separates Lu Lette from Roccamorice - the Fossa Sant' Angelo - in the foreground.  1993 photo.

There is a lovely panoramic view of the town from the Santuario dell'Iconicella, just above the town.  In this church, which is dedicated to the Madonna of Constantinople, there was once an ancient icon of the Madonna which was believed to possess miraculous powers (for more about this, see Lu Lette Page 9 about Maria SS. di Costantinopoli).  From the Santuario, you look out over Lu Lette and down into the broad Pescara Valley below.  In the valley, crops including grapes, olives and grain are grown.  Such crops are also raised in Lu Lette, but only on a small, subsistence scale; higher up on the mountain above Lu Lette there is no agriculture at all; there the grazing of sheep replaces farming.  Lu Lette also has beautiful views to the east, looking out onto the Morrone Mountains.

View of Lu Lette and the Pescara Valley from the Santuario dell'Iconicella. 1993 photo.

View over the tile roofs of Lu Lette toward the Morrone Mountains. S. Nicola church in the center.  1999 photo.

The ancient town church of S. Nicola, which can be seen in these photos, is no longer in use, due to damage suffered in the 1984 earthquake.  A small modern church has been built to replace it, but it is to be hoped that someday the town will be able to repair S. Nicola, where our emigrant ancestors were baptised. The town acquired its name during the 12th century, when the famiglia Letto, a powerful feudal family which controlled the nearby town of Manoppello, was also granted control of what is now known as Lettomanoppello.  In  Latin documents written in the 11th and 12th centuries, Lettomanoppello is called  "Terra Lecti propre Manoppellum" (Land of the Letto, owners of Manoppello).  The Letto family built their feudal stronghold three miles from Manoppello, and thus "Letto Manoppello" was born.  In the picture of the town's gonfalone, above, the  word "Lecto" is the Latin for the Letto family's name.

The Municipio (Town Hall).

Lu Lette's main street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele. 1989 photo.

The belevedere on the main street, Belvedere Lu Piantaune,  from which you can see the towns on the opposite ridge, and the Morrone Mountains. 1989 photo.

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