Palena

History

Fossils have been found in the capo di Fiume, now on display in the municipal paleontological museum where it shows what the environment of the Maiella was like 7 million years ago. The municipal territory of Palena has already been inhabited since the time Paleolithic, as proof of this, some artifacts from this period have been found in the Palena area. Later, in the period italico and Roman era, some districts of Palena, are inhabited as evidenced by some tombs and buildings of the time. The municipal capital dates back to early Middle Ages when the town is a fief of Gualtieri, Orsini, Antonio Caldora, Matteo di Capua and D'Aquino. Various Benedictine monks have inhabited the area.

The colonization of the Lombards took place in the 9th century. They venerated the cult of St. Michael the Archangel and St. George, as they will found a chapel at the mountain cave of the same name of Sant'Angelo. The territory was part of the Diocese of Sulmona-Valva, at the extreme border with the diocese of Chieti. The territory in the 11th century was divided into various villas, i.e. groups of pastoral houses: Castello Alberico (the current center), Pizzo Superiore e Inferiore, Castelcieco, Forca di Palena, San Cristinziano and Sant'Egidio. All these districts already in the 15th century no longer existed due to earthquakes.

In 930, the monk Giovanni da San Vincenzo al Volturno wrote in the Chronicon Vulturnense of the presence of the church of Santa Maria de Palena, together with a plot of land for the work of the population. At the same time in Palena he settled San Falco, where he died there and was soon venerated as a patron saint of the obsessives and the accidious.

Monasticism in Palena arose in the 12th century as evidenced by the bull of Pope Innocent II citing the church of San Vito in Furca, one of the oldest. This, together with the one dedicated to San Falco, just above the river, were under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Valva (Corfinio). The churches then existing were of Sant'Antonio Abate, Santa Croce, San Cristinziano, San Cataldo, San Tommaso and San Giovanni.

A special mention deserves the lost church of San Cristinziano (also known as San Cristiano or San Costantino): in 1065 the Counts of Sangro Borrello di Borrello and his son Borrello Infante donate it to Bishop Teatino Attone, then Lord of Chieti. …