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00 Pescina
Stemma di Pescina

Abruzzo · L'Aquila

Pescina

A Marsica town at 735 meters, on the rim of the drained Fucino basin, that lost five thousand of six thousand people in a single morning in 1915.

Best time
May–Oct
By car
1 h 6 min from Pescara
By train
Station in the comune
Population
3,724

Known for

  • IGNAZIO SILONE

    Writer born here in 1900, author of Fontamara, set in a thinly disguised Pescina, and of L'Avventura di un povero cristiano. Buried in the village at the foot of the tower.

  • CARDINAL MAZARIN

    Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino, born here in 1602, rose to Cardinal and Prime Minister of France under Louis XIV, one of the two native sons the town keeps.

  • 1915 EARTHQUAKE

    The Avezzano quake killed five thousand of six thousand residents on 13 January 1915 and leveled the old upper town, sparing only a bell tower and a handful of buildings.

When to visit

Best · May–Oct

  • J8°
  • F11°
  • M12°
  • A15°
  • M20°
  • J26°
  • J30°
  • A29°
  • S24°
  • O19°
  • N13°
  • D10°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Berardo dei Marsi, 2 May

Why come

Pescina sits on the rim of the Marsica basin, the dry plain left when Lago Fucino was drained in the nineteenth century. The town splits into two eras rather than two quarters: an upper settlement, now a field of ruins reached by a literary trail, and a lower town rebuilt after 1915 around a new cathedral holding the historical seat of the diocese of Marsi.

The two houses that survived belonged to families whose sons left very different marks, one through his novels and one through his rise at a royal court, and both births are now kept as museums in the rebuilt streets below the ruin. What the rebuilt town and the ruin together show is a place still organized around a single morning: everything standing today either predates it by centuries or was raised after it.

The Sunday letter

Pescina is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Pescina comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Pescina in our articles

How to get there

From Rome (FCO), about 2h 9m by car.

Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 2h 34m away.

By car from the centre of Pescara 1 hour or Ancona 2h 37m.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Rome?

Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Pescina is about 1h 8m away by road.

Pescina, photo 1
Pescina, photo 2

What to see

  • Torre Piccolomini

    Medieval tower of the ruined upper castle, one of the few structures left standing, now marking the writer's grave at its foot.

  • Centro Studi Ignazio Silone

    The birth house, now a museum holding manuscripts, photographs, and his personal library.

  • Casa Museo Cardinale Mazzarino

    Birthplace of Mazarin, rebuilt into a museum that traces the path from this house to the court of Louis XIV.

  • Resti del centro storico

    Ruins of the upper town, walkable along the Sentiero Silone literary trail threading through the surviving fragments.

  • Cattedrale di Santa Maria delle Grazie

    Cathedral rebuilt after 1915 in the lower town, seat of the historical diocese of Marsi, its interior plain in keeping with the postquake rebuilding.

  • Parco Naturale Regionale Sirente-Velino

    Pescina sits at the southeastern edge of the regional park, with trailheads climbing toward Monte Sirente at 2,348 meters.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Pescina fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Living here

  • Population 3,724
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Rome, 2 h 9 min drive
  • Regional capital L'Aquila, 53 min drive

Common questions

What is Pescina known for?
Pescina is a Marsica town at 735 meters, on the rim of the drained Fucino basin, that lost five thousand of six thousand people in a single morning in 1915.
Where is Pescina?
Pescina is a comune in the province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo.
What is the nearest airport to Pescina?
Rome (FCO), about 2h 9m by car.
Can you get to Pescina without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Pescara to Pescina?
About 1 hour by car.
When is the best time to visit Pescina?
Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Pescina?
The town keeps its patron saint's day: Berardo dei Marsi, 2 May.
Which other towns are like Pescina?
Capistrello, Tagliacozzo and Spezzano della Sila.
How many people live in Pescina?
3,724 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 735 m
  • Population: 3,724
  • Surface area: 48.8 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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