Civitella Messer Raimondo
Info
Elevation 589 metres (1,932 ft) above sea level, distance from Chieti 48 kilometres (30 mi), population about 812, postal code: 66010, telephone area code 0872. Approach roads: Autoroute A16, Lanciano exit, then about 25 kilometres (16 mi) of secondary roads.
Geography
Civitella Messer Raimondo is divided on a hill to the right of the Verde River, a tributary of dell'Aventino. The municipal territory, which extends for 12.37 square kilometres (4.78 sq mi), includes the towns of Calazzotto, Gallo, Selva and La Fonte.
History
The presence of settlements of the Palaeolithic period and confirmed by the discovery of cave paintings at the cave of La Pineta. Other excavations have unearthed prehistoric finds in the locality Fonte Liberatori and the remains of tombs with a large set of bronze furnishings, also dating back to prehistoric times. The tempering of a thermal building of the Roman period, adorned with mosaics, on the hill called Il Piano, suggests a continuity of settlements. The first documented news of Civitella Messer Raimondo are of the 12th century, the period of "Civitellam", in which it was a fiefdom held by a soldier, Manerius de Palena, perhaps a descendant of Oderisio II Valva, subfeudatario Count Bohemond of Manoppello. The area was then mentioned in the 14th century between the years 1308 and 1326 due to the Prior ecclesie Santa Maria di Civitella and the clerics of the site. In the first half of the 15th century, Raimondo da Anichino was in control of the town's castle. The last feudal lords of country were the Baglioni family, from which derives the name of the mansion that the aforesaid family left in the country.