Lucoli Alto: Abbey, Chapels and a Hiking Route

Lucoli Alto Between History and Landscape

Lucoli Alto is a destination for you if you would like to discover Italian history not only in large cities, but also through small religious buildings, paths and community-oriented festivals. The village offers several specific points of interest: San Giovanni Battista Abbey, chapels along paths and in the woods, a described hiking route and religious events closely connected with the individual districts.

San Giovanni Battista Abbey

The origins of San Giovanni Battista Abbey date back to 1077. It was a former Benedictine monastery that was converted into a collegiate church in the mid-15th century. The abbey stands in an isolated location surrounded by woods, between the inhabited districts of Spogna, Collimento and Lucoli Alto.

The building’s layout is also interesting for finding your way around the complex: on one side of the façade there is an entrance door to the lower cloister and the convent. There is a lower colonnade and an upper colonnade lined with the monks’ cells. This means that the abbey can be understood not only through its long history, but also through the traces of its former monastic use.

Chapels by the Rocks and in the Woods

The chapels around Lucoli Alto offer different points of interest. The Madonna di Peschio Cancelli Chapel was built in 1857 at the foot of a rock known as “il Peschio”. Today, this rock is also used for climbing. The Sant’Antonio Chapel is located on an unpaved path between the districts of Collimento and Lucoli Alto. It contains an altar with a painting of Saint Anthony of Padua, as well as devotional images and other religious objects.

The Madonna Immacolata Chapel is located in a small wood known as “Ju Cerqueto” surrounding San Giovanni Battista Abbey. Its small Marian altar depicts the Virgin with the Child Jesus, crowned with twelve stars. Representations of the Annunciation and the Pietà can be seen at the sides. Together with their locations by the rock and along the unpaved path, these chapels closely connect the local religious architecture with the surrounding landscape.

Hiking Route and Religious Festivals

A hiking route described by the Club Alpino Italiano leads downhill to the road to Lucoli Alto and then continues into the village. Upon arriving in Lucoli Alto, there is a large fountain washhouse on the right-hand side.

On June 13, the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, a Mass is celebrated in the Sant’Antonio Chapel on the initiative of the residents of Lucoli Alto. Another tradition is the Fiaccolata di San Michele Arcangelo. For more than ten years, it has been organized by the Amici di San Michele di Vado Lucoli association together with the parish priest. The event begins with a Mass in the small church on the hill and then continues downhill as a torchlight procession. The procession returns to the square in Vado Lucoli, where a figure representing the past year is burned in a bonfire.

Discover more destinations on piazze.de at Fontecchio, Sulmona, Scontrone, Campotosto, Roccaraso, L’Aquila, Ateleta and Rovere.

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