Lett2

LETTOMANOPPELLO

(Pg. 2)

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

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)

If you like to hike and climb, you can trek down to the bottom of the Fossa Sant' Angelo which separates Lu Lette from La Rocca--a very steep climb--to see the 800 - 900 year-old statue of Sant' Angelo (St. Michael the Archangel).

The Grotta Sant' Angelo. The statue is in the opening on the right.

The statue sits in a niche in the wall of a large shallow cave, the Grotta Sant' Angelo, at the bottom of the ravine. At the time that the statue was carved, the cave was the site of an eremo, or hermitage. The statue now in the cave is actually a carefully rendered copy of the original, which has been removed to the Museum of the Abruzzese People in Pescara in order to preserve it.

At the time that the statue was carved--800 to 900 years ago--there was a widespread movement within the church on the part of monks who wished to establish hermitages in remote places of solitude. Lettomanoppello's eremo was one of the many built in the Majella mountains at that time, and also one of the many dedicated to Sant' Angelo.

The statue up in the wall of the cave. In the foreground are the remaining foundation stones of the ancient hermitage that was on this site.

All that remains today of that tiny hermitage are a few foundation stones. Nevertheless, the place has remained special to the people of Lettomanoppello. Even today there are occasions on which the priest leads the people of Lu Lette down to the Grotta Sant' Angelo to conduct Mass there, continuing a centuries-old tradition.

The statue of Sant' Angelo in its niche in the cave. You can see that the pedestal on which it sits is a recent addition, carved from the local Majella white stone.

A mass being held at Grotta Sant' Angelo; this is done every May.

Behind Lettomanopello's main street is a small section of the town that appears to be much older. The few streets in here are very narrow. At least one is cobbled, and the houses are built touching each other, in the "casa mura" ("house wall") style. This style of architecture was apparently developed during the medieval period as a defensive technique. During those unsettled times, warfare and attacks on one town by another were common, and the casa mura style offered some protection to the inhabitants, whose town might be additionally protected by an outer wall.

Street leading to the municipio or Town Hall.

Old street.

Another of Lu Lette's tiny old streets.

Lu Lette Pg. 1

Lu Lette Pg. 3