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00 Scurcola Marsicana
Stemma di Scurcola Marsicana

Abruzzo · L'Aquila

Scurcola Marsicana

At 700 meters below Monte San Nicola, the field where a medieval battle ended Swabian power in southern Italy.

Best time
May–Oct
By car
1 h 11 min from Rome
By train
Station in the comune
Population
2,670

Known for

  • BATTLE OF 1268

    Charles of Anjou defeated Conradin of Hohenstaufen on the Piani Palentini on 23 August 1268, a battle cited in Dante's Inferno.

  • ABBAZIA DELLA VITTORIA

    Cistercian abbey founded by Charles in 1274 and consecrated in 1278, built to commemorate the victory and house monks from Burgundy.

  • FESTONE

    Annual August procession reenacting the Madonna della Vittoria tradition that grew up around the medieval abbey.

When to visit

Best · May–Oct

  • J9°
  • F12°
  • M12°
  • A15°
  • M20°
  • J25°
  • 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: Antonio di Padova, 13 June

Why come

Scurcola Marsicana sits on the western rim of what was once the Fucine lake. The earliest finds in the area date to the ninth and eighth centuries BC; the toponym is Lombard and shows up around 1150, long before the events that made the place known. The village and its castle sit on the hill, the abbey and the battlefield lie on the plain below, and the mountain rises behind the whole arrangement: high ground, open ground, and the ruin that commemorates what happened on the open ground, all within sight of one another on the plain.

The other layer of history is darker: after Italian unification in 1861, Piedmontese troops carried out a massacre of the local population. The commune has 2,670 residents today, and the Festone every August reenacts the Madonna della Vittoria tradition. A small town, then, built around a plain that settled a dynastic war, with a second, more recent violence folded into the same small territory without any monument to answer it.

The Sunday letter

Scurcola Marsicana 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 Scurcola Marsicana comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Scurcola Marsicana in our articles

How to get there

From Rome (FCO), about 1h 52m by car.

Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 2h 22m away.

By car from the centre of Pescara 1h 20m or Naples 2h 27m.

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

Coming from Rome or Naples?

Coming by train into Roma Termini? Scurcola Marsicana is about 1h 10m away by road.

Every town within reach of Rome airport.

Scurcola Marsicana, photo 1
Scurcola Marsicana, photo 2

What to see

  • Ex Abbazia di Santa Maria della Vittoria

    Now ruined but still readable: broken walls and arches standing in the open plain, the clearest physical trace left of the 1268 victory and the monks who once held the site.

  • Castello Orsini

    Medieval fortress on the hill above the village, later passed to the Colonna family with the rest of the marquisate.

  • Piani Palentini

    The wide plain stretches flat in front of the village, open ground with little to break the sightline, the kind of terrain that explains why an army would meet another here rather than in the hills.

  • Monte San Nicola

    Apennine peak of about 1,265 meters above Scurcola, with a marked trail leading from the village to the summit.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Scurcola Marsicana 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

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

  • Sagra della Coda alla Vaccinarafood festival

    usually held in August. Sagre in Abruzzo

Living here

  • Population 2,670
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Rome, 1 h 52 min drive
  • Regional capital L'Aquila, 36 min drive

Common questions

What is Scurcola Marsicana known for?
At 700 meters below Monte San Nicola, the field where a medieval battle ended Swabian power in southern Italy.
Where is Scurcola Marsicana?
Scurcola Marsicana is a comune in the province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo.
What is the nearest airport to Scurcola Marsicana?
Rome (FCO), about 1h 52m by car.
Can you get to Scurcola Marsicana 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 Scurcola Marsicana?
About 1h 20m by car.
When is the best time to visit Scurcola Marsicana?
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 Scurcola Marsicana?
Yes. Sagra della Coda alla Vaccinara. August is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Scurcola Marsicana?
Greccio, Sepino and Sante Marie.
How many people live in Scurcola Marsicana?
2,670 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 700 m
  • Population: 2,670
  • Surface area: 30.38 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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