COLLEDIMACINE is a small town in the province of Chieti, high in the mountains. It's territory, not very vast, has neither villas nor cottages. The population lives gathered in one nucleus of houses positioned almost evenly on an ample platform of limestone rock which faces the Pizzi mountains to the east, and the Majella and the Aventino Valley to the west.

Many sections of land, casually included in the "Colle" district near the southern extremity of the town, give you a glimpse of the remains of prehistoric huts with fragments from the Neolithic era. In a brief excavation report carried out by Francesco Verlengia in the same area he discovered numerous flint stones and pieces from vases that were roughly decorated and completely similar to those discovered in the excavation of the Neolithic village near Lama Peligna, discovered in October 1909 by Professor Innocenzo Dall'Osso.

Therefore the current-day town probably derives from a nucleus of primitive people.

Other nuclei of primitive people certainly must have existed in the territory of Colledimacine: prehistoric and roman fragments were discovered in the districts of "Pietre Sant'Angelo", " Santa Maria della Tomba", and the "Casaleni".

But for a surer conclusion you would need an accurate study and exploration of the various lands.

In ancient roman times Colledimacine would have been included in the territory of "JUVANUM", and according to the C.I.L.E. it is not improbable, given its vicinity to the site of the destroyed Juvanum.

Colledimacine? What does it mean? Why, as is the case with nearby towns, is it only Colledimacine, and not also the name Peligna?

There must have been a reason why Colle, which had direct contact with the communities of Lama Dei Peligni, Torricella Peligna and Taranta Peligna, was only called Colledimacine.

Why?

Should we place its origin in pre-roman, roman, or medieval times?

Certainly the history of this town follows not in the half-light, but in the shadows of the trials and tribulations of more noted neighbouring towns with which it had work, cultural, folkloric and craft ties.

Documents? There are few. The curiosity, however, of knowing the origins and the history of one's own little world is great.

So it is by extreme chance that I found myself investigating my ancestors and all that accompanied their earthly existence: the Majella, the bleak mountains full of stones and bramble bushes which today reign to a certain extent everywhere.

On the other hand history can be described as a copious current which flows through time: which navigates in it for brief periods, or which lives on its banks, continually throwing objects into it: a great number of these sink or dissolve immediately, but some recover so as to be transported for a more or less brief distance.

Only a few of these succeed in getting to the mouth where this particular current ends up, like all the others, in the sea of obligation that signals the end of everything from this world. (Karl Krauss)

What remains? It is difficult to say. Probably traditions that, handed down, are adapted and mixed up with legends, and put back into the current of one's own history.

The rock which stands taller
than the sun does not speak.
It sees everything broken
and cannot judge.
It is the elusive music
of things that exist
and that everyone has to explain for themselves.

( Massimo Rocovic )

M. Rocovic, alias Di Leo Clemente, from "Frantumi di una reggia azzurra". [Pieces From A Blue Royal Palace].

From historical verification there are three elements which make up the components of the population of Abruzzo :
- SABINO
- OSCO
- PELASGICO
This was most probably due to, in the Neolithic era (4th or 3rd millennium B.C.), a strong migration of people from the high Iranian plains towards : Greece, Thrace, Gaul and the Italic peninsula, taking with them their own folklore, worship, traditions and civilization.

These people were: the Pelasgi (the Cimbri and Tessali) and the Pallini. Here we are presented with a new dilemma: Pelasgi or Pallini?

My historical knowledge does not give me the possibility of eliminating the indecision and opting for a very precise solution. Research done with regard to this matter however reduces many of the doubts and pacifies curiosity. In fact, according to the Greek historian Diogenes of Halicarnassus, the Pelasgi appeared in Italy around seventeen generations before Troy, corresponding to 1,500 years B.C.

This movement that from Asia crossed Greece and took them into Italy was not certainly carried out in one sole solution, but rather, over centuries, given the numerous traces which testify to their passage. Archeological research has retraced signs of pelasgic work in the remains of walls made with irregular blocks of rock, enormous boulders not worked with chisels, but placed side by side.

These powerful high walls, built without mechanical help, make one think about the presence of a population of herculean height and structure. These walls were referred to as Cyclopic or The Devil's Walls. "Cyclops" in Greek means "circle of the eye" and was applied to men who, rough but of gigantic height, lived on mountains and had a lamp on their foreheads, with which they produced light in caves and in mines, and which the superstitious tendency of people mistook for an eye.

Homer tells us about them in The Odyssey.

The remains of such walls are found:
* in Argolide.
* in Tessaglia.
* Boviano and Sepino nel Sannio.
* Montenero Domo in Abruzzo at close proximity
* Palena.
* Juvanum ( which means "son of Jupiter" ).
* Monte Porrara.
* Guado di Coccia.
* Collis Civitae ( Collis Macinarum, in Abruzzo in the vicinity of the actual Colledimacine ).
* Lama dei Peligni.

Other writers such as Livius, Diodonus, Siculus, Pliny, and Silvius Italicus don't speak of the Pelasgi, but of the Pallini, and state that these people were often fighting against the Romans. Romanelli D. (nineteenth century) claims that these writers, when they referred to Pallini, also meant the Peligni people, or only the Peligni people. On the contrary, however, Giuseppe Calidonia affirms, in his writings " The diocese of Valva and Sulmona ":

"Other famous people of the Peligni
were the Pallenenses, situated on the
lower slopes of the Majella".
That having been said, the step that separates the Pelasgi from the Peligni is brief, if not inexistent.

Nicola Corcia, Neapolitan historian, in the eighteenth century writes:

For this reason it seams to me that the origin of such a name is derived from that of some Asian city, and I believe that this ancient city must have been called PELLINA. The city of the same name in Tessaglia and Acaia, and Pallina or Pollena, city of Acaia.

That is confirmation for the theme of the pelasgic origin of the name PALLINIJ or PELIGNI. But when times of pelasgic domination ceased, replaced by the conquests of the Samnites or Sabelli, the ancient name remained, the name of Peligni.

Other writers such as Corcia think that they can oppose this idea, stating that the name Peligni originates from the greek Pella, which means muddy, referring to the strange valley of Sulmona, which is of a muddy nature. Actually, the most credible theory seems to be related to the origin of the Greek word Pella, where "pella" meant rock or stone. This would also explain why, still according to these critics, Pelasgi would mean "constructions with large polygonal rocks".

From these considerations it is possible to support that the three names PELASGI -PALLINI-PELIGNI also have a strong connection with Pallena, which means rock, with reference to cyclopic, which was given to Mount Palleno, today PORRARA. As corollary for this theory Corcia affirms that it is confirmed that, not only primitive people, but also people today, when transferring from their original country, have constructed new cities and have allocated to them the names of those from the mother-lands that have been abandoned. Polybius, a famous Greek historian, also confirms this point. And it is from this theory that it is possible for us to admire how much European culture is present in other out-of-the-way areas of the world.

Even Titus Livius in "De Urbe Condita", talking of the Roman siege at Siracusa, affirms that the consul Marcello had available for the Romans the PALLINENSES.

Evidently these tribes were always modestly subdivided by name, descendance, and territory.

In fact, people speak of a federation of Peligni, famous for its courage and for its physical robustness. Pliny calls them very strong, Silvius Italicus calls them ACRI (acrid) or more precisely GAGLIARDI (vigorous).

Everywhere information on the Peligni is only found from their contact with the Romans. They fought various wars with the Romans, participating with the Samnite confederation (fourth century B.C.) and, lead by Erminius in 321 B.C., made the surviving Roman soldiers pass under the Caudine Forks (an act of humiliation following defeat in a battle). In the Punic Wars, apart from offering soldiers to the Roman army, the Peligni took part in the battle of Metaurus against Hasdrubal, brother of the feared Hanibal.

To confirm this hypothesis, that the Pelasgi were at the origins of these lands, there is also a current piece of evidence:

La MAJELLA
Per la Majella!!! ["For the sake of the Majella"! Expression of exasperation]
Mannaggia alla Majella!!! ["Damn the Majella"!]

A much abused, but much loved name by Abruzzesi. From the myth of Cybele, originally FRIGIA , whose worship was transferred from Greece to Rome, who was the goddess of fertility and of the land, mother of the gods and of men. Ovid changed her to MAGNA Mater. "MATER deorum terra" [mother earth of the gods] was the most adored by the Pelasi people.

She was the turreted mother who in Rome was depicted seated on the throne, with two lions by her side, and a turreted crown on her head. The Italic people transformed the ancient divinities, and CYBELE was represented in MAJA, from which MAJELLA Madre.

Taking up arms against Rome they played a significant part in the bloody social war. Beaten, in defeat they endured the hard and ferocious repression of the dictator Cornelius Sulla (82 B.C.) who had their cities razed to the ground. Not resigned to this, they again took part in a campaign against the capital, thanks to a gladiator: SPARTACUS.

In fact, the tribes that were allocated to these areas were a reference point, or logistical base, for the slaves that Rome used on the Majella for the extraction of gold. In this war of insurrection, carried out from 73 to 71 B.C., the renowned rebel basically relied on the slaves. In recruiting his army, Spartacus used to go personally to the hottest areas; and thus one of those must have been the people that lived in Palena, Lettopalena, Montenero, Pizzoferrato, Colledimacine, Lama, Taranta etc.

Again defeated, but by a war fought far from the land of the Peligni, the story of this people, the PELIGNO people, becomes obscure. Obscure to the point that no monitory or significant sign makes it resurface. From what can be traced, writings talk about our lands as settlements of people who tried to exploit the difficult mountainous land of the Majella as a bulwark for their villages, extracting from these territories support for survival with game and the rearing of livestock.

These people behind the eastern side of the Majella were even mentioned by Pliny and probably referred to Juvanum as a commercial centre, Palena, Taranta and Lama as industrial centres and Colli Macinarum as a centre for the recruitment of labour for the functioning of the industrial area.

Of the ancient city of Juvanum, of which little is known, the remains are spread over a broad plain, where the remains of Samnite-Roman civilizations are visible, like :
The DECUMANUS Maior
The North-South road.
The palace of the "Vectigalis".
The Basilica
The Greek theatre behind the hill, on which rose the Capitolium, with the temple dedicated to perhaps Jupiter or Hercules, whose worship was very prominent in the Aventina Valley.

Juvanum used to rise, and as witness we have the diggings done about twenty years ago, on a series of high grounds from which it was easy to control access towards the heart of Abruzzo through the Aventino Valley and the Sangro. The element of conjunction between the two people or tribes had to go beyond an interdependance of work, but also to a strategic interest. Infact, taking a flight over the bulwark of the Majella, or for whoever does not have the possibility of flying, looking at Lama or Taranta from a high elevation towards Colledimacine one notes that it is the only point from which you dominate the Aventino Valley.

If to this consideration you add that the hill is directly behind another very important pass, Coccia at 1,605 metres in height, and that this pass puts the Aventino Valley in contact with Campo Di Giove, it is easy for us to deduce that already in those times the people considered the position of Colledimacine to be significant in terms of military strategy.

Because of the importance that this observation point had reached in primitive times, it is easy now to suppose how the ancient mountain tribes of the Peligni, from simple pastoral life, tied to family and religious values, in order to obtain security that would protect them from unexpected disputes with other tribes, or maybe for the domination of the areas of fertile pasture, for immense forests, for the search of fresh waters, the Peligni, and with these the people of Collis Macinarum, extended their dominium into the high Aventino Valley, up to the eastern slopes of the Pizzi mountains, including Pizzoferrato and the whole of the left bank of the Sangro river, as several authoritative historians relate to us. With regard to this, one could think that, based on the rocks which were found to be similar to those of Juvanum, a temple dedicated to the goddess Diana, goddess of the hunt, might have risen on one of the hills which now make up the town of Colledimacine, in the vicinity of the current main piazza.

It is thought that the temple in question might be the church that was subsequently dedicated to Saint Rocco. From the stones taken from the face one could also imagine that the church, during the middle ages, also doubled as a fortress for the town. Today the same stones that were present at many pagan sacrifices, or many religious rituals, are a proud witness to a modern building which has been turned into a parish house.

Certainly the principal activity of our ancestors was sheep farming, principal source for their existence. This activity, following the course of the seasons, was carried out in two stages, in spring and in autumn, and consisted in the relocation of the flocks. With the return of the pleasant season the shepherds, coming from the Tavoliere Plain, lead their flocks towards the heights of the Abruzzi mountains, at first covering a section of the Adriatic Coast, and then advancing through the Sangro Valley, they reached the Aventino Valley, to then settle on our fertile pastures lined with innumerable small stretches of water. As autumn approached they would leave the mountains.

Still visible amongst the remains of the near-by JUVANUM are the powerful ruins of the VECTIGALIS building concerning sheep farming as already mentioned, where customs tax was paid for the grazing of flocks.

Certainly the activity of sheep farming, which our ancestors carried out on a large scale, was very fruitful for our mountain populations. Resulting from this, amongst other things, was that frequent contact with those from the DAUNIA lead to a melding of customs that then became common to all. As well, many family units from one zone would settle in the other, and viceversa.

The precious and roaring waters of the Aventino Valley, rapid and rich in falls along the sunny eastern slopes of the Majella, were soon used to create the first precious mills for grinding wheat: the first industry of those far away times.

The bleak landscape, with a miserable vegetation consisting of a few stems of grass burnt by the summer sun and the winter cold, offered and offers an abundant amount of rocks of every kind, from ornamental ones, to those used for work. Although there have been efforts to establish what the customs and activities were of those people nothing, or very little, has been passed down to us. Nearly everything has been destroyed by time and by the numerous invasions which occurred over the course of Italian history. In fact Madonna of Torricella Dei Peligni believes that the cities and towns of these areas have disappeared " BECAUSE OF THE CHANGEABLE DESTINY OF EVERY EARTHLY THING".

The reporter Cristoforo maintains instead that the centres around the Aventino Valley were ruined by the Goths. But apart from the Goths, there remains even today the sign of the Lombard domination defined as an infernal cyclone. Lead by Alboino they invaded, with their entire families and livestock, nearly the whole land up to the Sangro River. This increased work on fortifications by cities that were already equipped, and exile for others. Which way out did our populations take with the approach of such a terrible scourge? Surely our ancient ancestors took refuge towards the heights of the Majella. In fact, in the Melete district, at more than 1,770 metres, De Nino has tracked down remote traces of human habitation, such as the remains of terracotta pots and other primitive utensils. To have an idea of the barbaric nature of the Lombards it is enough to consider the gesture carried out by their king Alboino who forced his wife Rosmunda, daughter of Cunimondo, king of the Gepidi people, to drink from the skull of her father, which the ferocious king had used as a cup.

After the assassination of this human beast, at the hands of Rosmunda, the Lombard dukes elected Autari as king, who took as his wife the daughter of the king of the Ravari people, Teodolinda, who was catholic. Saint Benedict of Norcia, through Teodolinda, induced the Lombards into becoming catholics: embracing a religion that preached moderation and humility must have helped them to become less wild than they had been up until then.

The Lombard hordes, under the guidance of FAROALDO, had already occupied a large part of central Italy, and thus also Abruzzo. Pushing themselves along the principal valleys of the Pescara they reached the valley of Sulmona, radiating out onto the highlands; other hordes, rounding the Majella, occupied the Chieti area and, penetrating into the Aventino Valley, reached our communities. It is superfluous looking for sources, because the placenames of several localities where they resided are eloquent enough, like the nearby FARA San Martino, Lama, FARA Filiorum Petri, along the Foro Valley (1). Some inserted themselves even further upstream, and Colle, Palena and Taranta cannot be excluded. Another consideration must be given to the numerous churches dedicated to Saint Michael Archangel who became their protector. There was one even in the territory of Palena which rose on high ground in the Pizzi mountains, in front of the Madonna Of The Alter, where even now the ancient ruins of the church dedicated to Saint Michael Archangel are visible. The Lombards subdivided Abruzzo into seven so-called GASTALDATI: Marsi, Valva, Amiterno, Forcone, Aprutium (Teramo), Pinne and Teate (Chieti). The Gastaldo was the administrative and judicial head of a Gastaldia. The inhabitants of the Gastaldia of Chieti, like those of other Gastaldati, having sworn faithfulness to Charlemagne, kept Lombard laws and customs:

"In aprutio servatur jus logobardorum
et illud expedit" (2) [In Abruzzi the law of the Lombards is obeyed and it serves them well.]

And so only the Lombard laws ended up being observed. Each court defined cases according to those laws, as were contracts, inheritance, wills, punishment of crimes, confiscation, and everything "secundum Lombardorum legem" (Translator's note: According to the law of the Lombards). They were very hasty and without appeal. (3)

(1) The "Fare" were groups of Lombard families who were employed by a monastery, whose Abbot was not only their religious head, but was also the civilian head of the small community.

(2) Teja: Jus Regni Long. (Book iv)

(3) Editto Rotari. Amongst the articles of the EDICT OF ROTARI here is a selection : .
* If someone has thought or schemed against the person of the king, he will be condemned to death, and his belongings confiscated.
* If someone together with the king has schemed the death of someone else, or has killed a man by the king's command, he will not be at all guilty.
* If someone kills his own master, he himself will be killed.
* If someone impedes the way of a free woman or a girl, or insults her, he will make a settlement of 90 coins.
* When at night a "free man" is found in the court (in someone else's home), and has not presented his hands to be tied, if he is killed his relatives shall not search for him, and he can be redeemed for 80 coins.
* If someone has wounded another in the head in a manner that breaks his bones, for one bone he will arrange the payment of 12 coins. For two, he will arrange 24 coins.
* If someone causes the loss of one or more teeth, for one tooth he will pay a sum of 19 coins. * If a servant has dared to unite in matrimony with a free woman or child, he will incur the penalty of death. And with regards to she who was consenting to the servant, the family will have the authority to kill her, and to do what they wish with her belongings.
* If someone finds one or more pigs digging holes in his field, he can kill only one, and he will not be pursued.

Even to this autonomous custom we have a witness a few hundred metres from the inhabited part of Colledimacine. Here rises a natural precipice caused by a slow settlement of the land. Today this precipice corresponds to the name "Curte vecchia"- alias "old Court".

From history that is not written, but handed down by the generations, it is to be deduced that the court that is spoken "secundum Lombardorum legem" of Lombard origin, was made up of elders who would meet on a high place, and for this reason Curte Vecchia was chosen. Today we would call it the grand palace, the palace of justice, etc. etc. anyway the function, apart from the name, was to administer law.

From this senile reunion would spring a sentence and the relative immediate execution. So a man who was condemned to death would be transported bodily to the top, and from there pushed to imitate Dedalo (Daedelus) from the eastern part, which offers a free fall of about one hundred metres, and a landing on sharp boulders.

No person returned!

At least, it isn't easy to trace information about it. There the corpse was miserably abandoned and fell prey to rapacious carnivorous animals.

What remains today?

Certainly not the bones worn and consumed by time. History remains, and as its witness old CURTH.

The bramble bushes that surround it indicate that this practice has fallen into disuse and belongs to the past, and this place of immediate punishment and justice has hosted, for a few decades, a calm and natural summer and winter "residence", in the upper regions for foxes, and in the lower regions for wild boar.

The lands of Chieti, after the fall of the Lombard Kingdom, found themselves separated from the Duchy of Benevento. In fact, the reporter Erchenperto narrates that, when Gimoaldo, lord of Benevento, in the year 801 showed himself to be an enemy of the Franks, Charlemagne, who was then in Rome, not having received an act of submission, sent against him Pepin his son, who, moving from Rome through the Marsica and Peligni areas, lead his army to the lands of Chieti that were looked after by the people of Benevento, and laid siege to the city, which was defended vigorously by the bold ROSCHINO, but after a brave fight Pepin occupied it and set fire to it. (4)

(4) "Nam Tellures teatensium et urbes a dominio Beneventorum tune subtractae sunt usque in presens."[For the people in the city of Chieti have been subjugated by the dominion of Beneventum even to the present day] Mon. Gen.Hist.Long.326 n.5

From what is known of the Lombards and their way of politically organising people, one gets the idea that they were a people; let's also say a race, in which a sense of life and organising things prevailed, and allocating human resources to the production process. It seems clear that they placed a great importance on agriculture, an activity in which, from the beginnings of human civilisation, the authentic sure path for existence was found. The inclination towards agriculture demonstrates a particular propensity by those people to give the most careful attention to natural resources, resources which however call for a particular dedication, a particular tenacious way of believing in the ability of man joined rationally to whatever nature can give, but cannot present to us on its own. In fact, everything that today is uncultured, but in that era was not. This can be attributed to the fact that there were numerous other towns in the area, such as: LISCIAPALAZZO, Upper PIZZI, Lower PIZZI, Castra JOHANNIS ALBERICI (Castelletta), LA TOMBA Locality.

In that era, there existed already in Colle, one of the first Christian churches: SANCTA MARIA DELLA TOMBA, founded by the Benedictine monks of Saint Vincenzo at Volturno. Similar such monks founded another Christian church at Palena, "SANTA MARIA DE PALENA", and this is also confirmed by Charlemagne in 774.(5)

(5) Chronicum Volturnorum Vol.II,page 139.

To relieve the misery of those who escaped the barbaric avalanche were the great works of the Benedictine monks who, illuminated by the light of Christianity, instilled love and hope into the sad populations, guiding them towards the revival. In 703, after Monte Casino, other monasteries rose on the banks of the Volturno, and above all others the monastery of SAN VINCENZO AL VOLTURNO, built by Count Gisulfo of Benevento, who passed on a great extension of land to the Benedictines. Having received this endowment the Benedictines start the hard struggle of redemption which explodes in all its vigour with the characteristic warning "ORA ET LABORA" [Pray and work], a warning that was addressed to the workers of the monastery to give them an ideal of life. The Benedictines pushed themselves, soon after, towards the high mountains of Abruzzo, where, before the upland plains, they founded a monastery on the ruins of a temple to(at) Diana, calling it SANTA MARIA DE QUINQUEMILA and, from here reaching the Aventino Valley they founded other churches, amongst these SANTA MARIA DI PALENA and SANTA MARIA DE LA TOMBA.
We are in 774 and from this historical documentation Colledimacine, in those far away times, certainly had some importance, under the profile of its position which offered it abundant pasture, water and stone. Certainly the civilizing work of the Benedictines was a providential hand for these people who lived in the most profound ignorance and poverty.

Monte Cassino has, even today for the Abruzzesi of the upper Aventino, not only a halo of fascination but also an attraction. This work of material and moral reconstruction was almost cancelled out in 820 by the incursions of the Saracens who sowed terror and destruction everywhere. The first targeted were the monasteries and churches, plundered with extreme vandalism; and so again these mountains were an extreme but safe refuge from the devastating fury of the new barbarians.

To these calamities is added another in the year 847: the notorious earthquake which, in Samnium and in Abruzzo, razed to the ground all the inhabited and uninhabited centres, without saving a single building. Among others Luca Ostiense speaks about it. (6)

(6) Cum annus ab Incarnatione Domini octigesimus quatragesimus septimus vulvueratur, tam terremotus per universam Beneventi fuit regiunem. Ut Isernia fere tota a fundamentis corrueret, multusque ibi populus st ipse cum eis eorum Pontifex interiret. Apud Manaste riumquoque San Vincentij terremotus dem plurimas domos everit." [When the 847th year since the incarnation of our Lord came to pass, there was so great earthquake throughout the entire region of Beneventum that Isernia collapsed almost totally to its foundations and much of the population there, and with them their high priest, perished. And at Manaste and the Saint Vincent river the earthquake also destroyed a great many houses].

Apart from the previous invasions, Abruzzo even endured the Franks who, in Lombard territories, replaced the Counties. Under the Franks the committee of Chieti had on three sides the Majella, the Pescara River and the sea, and towards the south was the Trigno River. The committee of Chieti, with that of the Marsi people and the Valva people, constituted to the south the extreme edge of the empire of Charlemagne, and of the italic kingdom. In the year 1035, however, the Normans arrived in southern Italy, lead by William, known as Arm of Steel. After the death of William, the Norman militia was commanded by Robert, known as the Guiscardo, and liberated the Puglia region from the Bizantines, while Ruggero I liberated Sicily from the Saracens. Having consolidated their power in the south the Normans sought to reach out and take Abruzzo, and commenced rather strategic military operations in 1061. They spread into the lands of Pescara Valley which were under the giurisdiction of the Monastery of Saint Clement at Casauria. Afterwards, in 1064 the conquest was continued with great violence by the son of Goffredo, known as "LORETELLO", who forced the monks of Casauria to declare themselves servants of his. The conquest of the entire territory of Chieti was then carried out with unheard of violence by UGO MAL OZZETTO, a very cruel personality, who established headquarters at Lanciano.

It was exactly during this period of occupation that the Normans reached the Aventino Valley, going through Penna Domo, Juvanum, Montenerodomo, Collis Macinarum, Piczi, Palena, Monte Porrara, up to the upland plains of the Majella. The other column instead, at the command of Riccardo D'Altavilla, moved from inland, along the Appenine backbone of Abruzzi, aiming to conquer the Marsican lands and, descending towards the valley of Sulmona, and then across the Forca Palena Pass, joined up again with the armies that had come from the Adriatic. It was, roughly, a "pincers maneuver" in order to go round the massive Majella and its projecting rocks. The captured territory in Abruzzi was divided by the natural limits of the Gran Sasso and the Majella into two duchies, as is pointed out to us in "Catalogo dei Baroni" [Catalogue of the Barons].

These continual changes, determined by wars which were more or less bloody and characterised by ruthless plundering, upset the Chieti region, which had to suffer the harsh impositions of the victors, and the destruction of castles and towns, especially those that had shown major resistance favoured by their position; amongst these Colledimacine, Pizzi, Palena, Forca Palena, for which our populations were oppressed and left in the most humiliating poverty and abandon. Remembering the invasions in the middle of the 10th century, it must be kept in mind that Charlemagne had to gather cavalrymen for his wars; with the impossibility of paying them with money he had been forced to pay them with land, and with rights over these; in this way the landed property was subtracted a bit at a time from the enormous land holdings of the empire. This then was how the elements of the fief were formed: the BENEFICIUM, the IMMUNITAS and the FIDELITAS that created the figure of the vassal. The landed property therefore became a precious wealth, a powerful means of subjection because it permitted the duke to obtain warriors, rewarding them with the investiture of a fief. The Norman conquest upset all the barbaric arrangements, and the name Aprutium-Aprutio, which until then was limited to the province of Teramo, spread to all the ancient committees of Abruzzi. The Fief is almost always a conglomerate of one or more castles, of villages, hamlets and houses spread around the countryside; dominating lands, hence the word DOMO, some of which are the property of the gentleman with a patriarchal title, such as Palena in Domo, Montenero Domo, Penna Domo; precious localities of a strategic character, such as Colledimacine. Other lands are kept by the gentleman "in beneficum", and in turn, completely or partly, by him subletted to minor Vassals "Valvassini". And for this reason almost all self-sufficient, that is, independent from an economic point of view. In this way there were TERRE DOMINICHE (belonging to the gentleman), and TERRE TRIBUTARIE o MASSERICE, subdivided into little farms, assigned to free cultivators or "liberari". MANSI (farms) are created, hence the word MASSERICIA (7). As the property and the power of the landowner grew, to the detriment of the monasteries, more courts were created within the sphere of the same property which depended on the principal one: the PALATIUM.

(7) Mangus in vulgari italicorum dicitus quantitas terrae que sufficit duobus bobus in anno ad laborandum. In vulgar Italian it is called "Manso", a quantity of land that covers the possible work that two oxen do in a year.

Considering the meaning of some place names from the upper Aventino Valley, such as LISCIA PALAZZO, a locality between Colledimacine and Pizzo Ferrato; SANTA MARIA DEL PALAZZO, an ancient Benedictine monastery, which rose on the ruins of the "Capitolium" of ancient JUVANUM, it is easy for us to deduce that the PALATIUM was none other than the pre-eminent residence of the Baron's Court, built on a dominating position which offered excellent defensive safety. The feudal system which the Normans brought when they settled maintained a great part of the administrative, financial and legal regulations of the Bizantines, Lombards and Arabs, but suffocated every symptom of liberty in the big and small centres. The state and the feudal Gentleman had rights over all the landed property, such as those that were referred to as "for civil use". The feudal lords often made "defences" of these in order to limit the "jus pascendi" [law of grazing]. The characteristic note which results from the Norman conquest is therefore the FEUDAL system, and the most interesting document that we have left about it and the Norman occupation is the "Catalogo dei Feudi dell Italia Meridoniale" ["Catalogue of the Fiefs of Southern Italy"], kept in the " Registri Angioini" in the state archives of Naples, vol 242. Printed by Borello in 1653, by Fimiani in 1787 and by Del Re in 1845.

Borelli believed that it was compiled at the times of WILLIAM the GOOD for the Crusades in Holyland, but according to some modern writers it is taken from several books compiled before 1161 and updated in 1168 for the two expeditions against the Bizantine Paleologo, and the other against Barbarossa. To these catalogues are added:

The "CATTALOGUS BARONUM", that is, The Catalogue of the Barons that was merely the register of feudal service in the Neapolitan provinces in the middle of the 12th century. It was compiled from the "Magna Curia" during the reign of Ruggero the Norman, which sanctioned in its statute works which were highly jiuridical for their time, and the prerogatives of the Sovereign over all the Fiefs of Southern Italy. In this "Catalogue" are listed all the fiefs and the respective feudal lords. It also has the economic value of the fief listed, according to the declaration of the owner. Following is the number of horsemen and shield carriers requested, with the addition of military service. The feudal lords were divided into two classifications: those who held a fief IN DEMANIUM or IN CAPITE, and those who obtained them only IN SERVITUM. Those who held it "in demanium" possessed it personally or directly from the RE [king] A DOMINIO REGE. The second group held it as a subconcession. Summing up, the fief consisted in any property granted by the king under the title of a vassalage, under oath of faithfulness, with the price of military service, with the addition of a certain number of horsemen in the case of war. The AUGMENTO, that is, the additions, no longer applied in the period of the following domination. The Svevi(ancient Germanic people), halved the amount of military service of the "Augmento". Charles of ANJOU changed the obligation of military service to a tax (ADOHAMENTUM), when the feudal lord could not serve in person.

The feudal militia having been subsequently abolished, the ADOHA remained as a financial contribution of 26 and a half percent of the value of the fief. For every baron in the kingdom who had a feudal income of 20 ounces of gold, corresponding to 120 ducats(8): he was obliged to contribute a MILE, that is, a horseman, belonging to the order of feudal nobility, based on the value of the horseman himself, equipped with weapons and horse (armis et equis) followed by two shield carriers, who were also equipped with weapons and horses. The division of the expenses was very elementary, divided in this way: if the conflict took place inside the kingdom the expenses for the maintenance of the horseman were charged to the "MAGNA CURIA". Those barons who instead had feudal income less than 120 ducats were to unite amongst themselves until they reached a total of 120 ducats. Therefore everyone contributed a proportionate amount to the maintenance of a horseman and two shield carriers. It is presumed that Colle was under the earldom of Palena, together with Lama, Taranta, Forca Palena, Rocca dei Pizzi, and other castles (for a total of eleven fiefs) and had, with the additions, twenty five horsemen and fifty shield carriers : a large band of 75 audacious and strong horsemen from the eastern side of the Majella that participated in the wartime exploits of past centuries. It seems that in the Peligna area it was the BORRELLI, descendants of the Valvensi Counts who seem to have Frankish origins, who laid down the law. The strategy used by these audacious, unscrupulous and shrewd gentlemen, right from the eleventh century, was to become rich and powerful at the expense of the assets of the Benedictine monks, obtaining land, or with sharp trickery, robbing them or making them surrender. This is also reported by Muratori in his colossal work "ANNALI D'ITALIA" [Annals of Italy] :

(8) The ducat was equivalent to 4.25 Lire of the time.

They would study how to make the churches pay an annual rent, either gently or with violence, meanwhile donating to them some land to induce the bishops and abbots with the small present advantage to balance their belongings...

In the year 1176 Federico Barbarossa, defeated at Legnano by the forces of the free communities, hurried to conclude with the Pope and with the free communities a ten-year truce and then returned to Germany. This dying lion did not resign himself to leaving the precious prey, Italy. In fact, before his death, with a skilful political matrimonial move, he succeeded in having his son Henry IV marry the daughter of Costanza of Altavilla, heir to the kingdom of Sicily, in this way saving the power of the Hohenstaufenn and that of the Normans.
In 1189, after the death of William the Norman, two unshakeable parties disturbed the kingdom of Puglia and Sicily. One had as its head Tancredi of Altavilla, cousin of the deceased king, while the other had sided with Henry IV of the House of Sueva, son of Federico Barbarossa. Tancredi had the upper hand over the other faction and was crowned in Palermo in 1190, while Pope Celestine III crowned Henry IV in Rome. Having arrived in Naples to assume possession of the kingdom, he had to abandon the area with the onset of the plague. A few years later the two contenders died, and on top of all others emerged Frederick, son of Henry IV, even supported by the papacy, first in the figure of the Pontiff Innocent III, and then Gregory IX.

Crowned Emperor Frederick he quickly revealed himself to be one of the most enlightened monarchs of the time. He instituted the Sicilian School, where poets and thinkers wrote in the language of the people, or vulgar Italian rather than in Latin, and brought about the new Constitution of the Kingdom, reshaping and adapting to the times, that of Ruggero the second, the Norman. (9) He even subdued the barons who were hostile towards him and who had lined up in favour of the Pope when the Pontiff had excommunicated the emperor because he had refused to set out on the fifth crusade in the Holy land.

(9) Frederick abolished the disgraceful right of the "JUS PRIMAE NOCTIS " [Translator's note: "the right of the first night;" previous to this the barons had the right to spend the first night with a newly-married woman, which the barons had abused.]

It was exactly after the excommunication that the barons lined themselves up with either the emperor or the Pontiff. A ferocious struggle resulted in the whole kingdom. The conflict even extended itself into our Abruzzo, where the conflict between the two factions assumed shades of civil war. As far as what concerned us nearby, the armies of the neighbouring barons who had lined up with the imperial Ghibeline militia devastated the castle of Saint Maria of Monteplanizio of Lettopalena, loyal to the Vatican.

After the defeat of the papal militia Frederick II forced the Pontiff Gregory IX to free him from the excommunication. Afterwards the emperor also routed the other forces that were hostile to him at Cartenoca, even taking possession of the Carroccio [translator's note: a cart used in war, on four wheels, pulled by oxen, containing the community's banner, an alter and a bell]. The death of Frederick II, at Fiorentino Castle near Lucera 1250, deeply disoriented the Ghibeline party in Italy. The Sveva domination was then in crisis. The new Pope Urbano IV in 1261 tenaciously followed the plan to completely bring down the Svevo dominion, and succeeded by supporting Charles D'Anjou, son of the king of France Luis VIII. The plan initiated by Urbano IV was concluded by his successor Clement IV in 1265.

Abruzzo, having lined up in favour of the Svevi and thus against the new order, again suffered the weight of another war. The Sveve forces were defeated at Scurcola near Tagliacozzo, and Charles D'Anjou, almost the absolute winner, quickly put into action his revenge against cities, castles, and feudal lords who were hostile to him. He even divided the ample territory of Abruzzi , made up of 720 lands, into two zones :

Another subdivision of the lands of Chieti are also noted:

It is noted that Colledimacine was part of Teate Maior, or to be precise Abruzzo Citra Flumen Piscarie. A further subdivision also saw:

Charles I D'Anjou wanted this further subdivision fiscal reasons, and for the collection of the payment of taxes.

Infact, the hard D'Anjou tax system was based on two pieces of revenue :

Anyway, the second one that was of a special nature soon became of an ordinary nature. In 1270, on the occasion of the marriage between Beatrice, daughter of Charles I D'Anjou, and Phillip D'Anjou, a supplement of 35 thousand ounces of gold was requested from the subjects, equal to 8.80 quintals (1quintal = 100kilos). An enormous sum when the miserable conditions of the subjects are taken into consideration. To that calamity was added another: the famine of 1270.

In spite of everything life continues, and so does history.

After Joanne I D'Anjou, Ladislao ascended to the throne of Naples, who in order to continue the war against the D'Anjous married the beautiful Constance Chiaramonte I, a rich Sicilian, and with the money of this princess continued the war. The money having run out, in 1412 he divorced from the beautiful Sicilian in order to marry another rich woman: the "sirekka" of the king of Cyprus.

Having initiated an expedition in Abruzzo against Luigi II and against the Caldoresi, he was defeated, and returned to Naples through Molise. This young prince disappeared from the scene and his sister Joanne II and Luigi III D'Anjou ascended to the throne of Naples. The opposing armies clashed at Pacentro and Campo Di Giove where the Anjous, commanded by Giacomo Caldora, were defeated by Braccio Da Montone who was at the service of Alfonso of Aragona. After the defeat Braccio Da Montone effected a virtual manhunt, in the guise of the Caldoresi, up to Castel Di Sangro. Beside this painful story of war and misery we will now also briefly analyse the economic and commercial aspect, keeping in mind that it is not difficult to imagine what the fate of our ancestors was in the periods previously illustrated.

INSERT HANDWRITTEN NOTES HERE

The wool trade did not find the town industrially prepared. In it there are some marginal phases of an industrialised town:

"a"
Production was realised thanks to the innumerable and numerous flocks that existed. In fact, sheep's wool was used as merchandise for trade at the wool mills of Palena and Taranta, starting with the Svevi, towards the end of 1200 to encourage industry, and some centres, like those above-mentioned, had certain fortune. That very fortune that then regressed to crisis under the Anjou domination. A synoptic chart from the universities of the Aventino Valley and neighbouring areas confirms this. In such a chart an exception is the fall of 1670 which is attributed to the period of the plague.

 

Universita (10)	Year	Year	Year	Year	Year
	1447	1596	1670	1447	1881
Palena	166	305	142	824	4169
Torricella Peligna	40	126	60	186	4161
Lama dei Peligni	90	160	103	417	3215
Lettopalena	71	108	83	364	1559
Colledimacine	30	102	39	207	1450
Fallascoso	17	41	32	77	633
Montenerodomo	28	109	54	155	1875
Casoli	119	261	150	686	6109
Fara San Martino	38	152	94	165	2691
Palombaro	23	83	21	129	1263
Gessopalena	137	205	177	669	3396
Civitella M. Raimondo.	26	58	37	121	877

"b"
It was obligatory that such centres should be catalysts for workers from the valley. Being the only industries, women and children came to add to the family income doing the less-heavy work of the fields.

"c'
This activity is linked to the preceding one. This was a job carried out by everyone, and at any time of the day. Still up to a few years ago old women, and not so old women, could be seen doing work at home to effect fringes and frills onto products sold unrefined by the wool mills. Of this Lorenzo Giustiniani speaks briefly in the historic-geographic dictionary of the two Sicilies.

As ascertained during the course of this research stones must have been a very important aid for the work of these people.

All sorts of stones: for work and for embellishment, sculptures in stone, and today obvious signs remain, starting with the coat of arms of the town. In fact the coat of arms, today walled up on the portal of the main church, consists of three mountains, an Anjou lily, and two roses. The sign of the ancient university (1) is a millstone of a mill, and that was probably an obvious allusion to the name of the town. Anyway, similar coats of arms, with signs alluding to the name, are not ancient and rare in Abruzzo.

(10) "UNIVERSITY" was the name, or better still the denomination, given to each town council taxed with a minimum of 20 ounces of ADOHA, as the population of the "castra", subject to the jurisdiction of the feudal lord, divided into groups of MILES and SERVITIALES, relied more and more on the feudal lord for the protection of their interests and for reciprocal defense.

Section Nap. L-C-200 (from Lorenzo Giustiniani : Historic and Geographic Dictionary, The Kingdom Of The Two Sicilies).

Colledimacine - land in "Abruzzo Citro" in the diocese of Chieti. It is situated on top of a hill with very clean air, enjoying a pleasant horizon, especially towards the Adriatic Sea, which is about 20 miles away. From Chieti it is 27 miles away, and from Sulmona, Lanciano, Ortona, Vasto, Aimone and Castel Di Sangro it is about 20 miles away. To the west, at a distance of four kilometres, it is surrounded by the mountains "Ferrara" and "Maiella", covered for the whole of June by snow, hence rendering the climate rather harsh in the seasons of winter and spring.
The territory borders on the east with the holding of "Fallascoso", and with "Montenero Domo", and with the fief known as the "Pizzi", to the west with Taranta, Letto-Palena and Lama, and to the north with Torricella.

Its whole circumference is 10 miles.

On its major side the Aventino River flows through it, of which it said a few things in the article about Civitella Messer Raimondo.
In the aforementioned fief of Pizzi the remains of an ancient town called "Liscia-Palazzo" can be seen. This fief is adjacent to the other called "Castelletta", which belongs to the Duke of "Casoli". Flocks and herds roam in the open areas. A lot of game can be found such as woodcock, partridge and other birds; and similarly goats, wolves, foxes, hares, and even bears.

In the rocky areas vipers and asps are not scarce. Production is limited to that which is most needed, and the little that is left over is sold in nearby lands. There are very convenient fountains for the farmers and the cultivation of vegetables.

Even potatoes were introduced. In the above-mentioned river there is fishing of trout and eel.

In 1532 its population was taxed based on 92 families ("fuoco" used to refer to a family nucleus). In 1545 again based on 92 families, in 1561 on 102, in 1595 on 131, in 1648 on 120, and in 1669 on 89.

Today its natural ascendants are about 840 workers in agriculture and the farming of one's own animals. A part of these, in the month of November, goes to the Roman countryside to make coal. The women spin wool and even take care of the clothes of merchants from Palena and Taranta.

The owner is Domenico of the Tramondi Marquis in Sulmona.

The various types of rocks that exist here lend themselves to this type of multi-purpose work.

The first is the working of a rock which is more malleable, always worked by hand, with patience and tenacity in various moments of relaxation or in the periods during which agriculture required a forced break, for the construction of : bowls, stairs, thresholds for windowsills of balconies or windows, vases of all types, both for the conservation of food, and ornamental.

Everything was finely smoothed with hammer and chisel. Even today it is possible to note: the untreated old, the old worked with care, and the old worked with an addition of buildings recently finished and superimposed on the old. This came about as the craftwork that allowed this type of production became extinct.

Up until about twenty years ago I remember workers who squared these rocks, and their chisel used to break the silence that now covers, together with the bramble bushes, these appropriate quarries.

There have not been true and proper industries, everything took place through local craftsmanship, now extinct, that sorted these products in limited measure, carried out on commission, even towards nearby centres.

Other works of notable technical production, and now remaining as a witness to this activity are:

But while these were refined products, what acted as a focus for the working world and the productive world was, without doubt, a rougher product: the "MILLSTONE".

These were produced thanks to hard and rough rocks, such as the rock commonly called "focaia", present everywhere.

Its use and its discovery must be remote. I do not know precisely if in these areas there were factories for export or only factories with millstones, and, I found it difficult to find information in this regard. I think however that this is a hypothesis that can be rejected, seeing as "focaie" rocks are found everywhere and are heavy to transport. I think however that the millstone that appeared here is without doubt from a remote period.

Today its use has disappeared. In a few years time it will most probably not be talked about; but my infancy and the generations that preceded me lived through an arc of time in direct contact with its golden era.

I have seen various types, all-functioning via motors powered by electricity.

An example, today displayed in a park, shows two wheels from a mill for wheat or maize.

As can be seen these were not made from one single rock, but from many elements cemented together and contained by a steel catch.

The functioning of this type of mill was assured by a series of pullies that obtained the necessary energy for movement from an electric motor. Keeping the lower stone still, the upper one turned via the system mentioned above, and through weight and the force of friction it managed to squash the grains of wheat that were conveyed into appropriate grooves situated between the two wheels. These grooves used to level out over time, and an enormous physical effort was needed by hand, with hammer and chisel, to restore them.
A type which preceded this one, which functioned up till the 1930's, was the water mill. The functioning principle was the same: the source of energy changed. The motion, in fact, was obtained from an enormous wheel that was made to turn by water.

The conversion of such energy was obtained through serrated wheels made of wood, of a very hard wood such as "sorbo" or "ciliequio".

In order to have a sufficient amount of water often excavations and canals were dug. Such works of water conveyance ran into a crafted dam overhanging the mill, which even acted as a tank in periods of drought, and in common language were called "rifolza".

Today even these are covered with bramble bushes and wild vegetation, and only with the testimony of some elderly folk was it possible for me to find traces of them.

In the town there is not a lack of recollections of more ancient types of mills, belonging to the last century. From what I can understand the functioning principle has remained the same, the difference consisted in the arrangement of the stones and in the different source of energy. There were mills dug into the ground floors or underground in houses; where the stationary wheel, the lower one, was adapted to use on pre-existing blocks of stone which were appropriately shaped , and, the mobile wheel, the upper one, concentric to the first through a central pivot, was directly joined to the periphery with a pole; to which motion was directly applied, supplied by a man or animal.

Do the remains of such structures still partially exist? Time and adversities, such as the War (11) and earthquakes, have accentuated its decline, for which reason in a few years even these ruins will not be decipherable.

(11) The town was completely destroyed in the last world conflict by the "Gustav Line".
For the sacrifice and fight taken on against the German forces the community was decorated by the president of the Republic with a "cross of war for military valour" in 1975.

So I have now reached the end of this research, touching on the more remote parts of the town's history, without having given an answer: why COLLEDIMACINE?
That which at first sight, based on popular belief, seemed logical and taken for granted, in reality has turned out obscure and full of shadows. But tradition, even if mixed with legend, is born from concrete facts; so therefore even here there had to be common elements between "macine" and the name of the town (even if there are not documents relating to this).

To this proposal the thesis fails which connects us to 1316, the year in which:

It fails in that Antinori, even faithfully reporting a subdivision of the fief of Colle di Machine to the same Ruggieri, already testifies to the existence of such a name, and in a marginal note he reports the pre-existence of the town Collis Macinarum. This marginal note projects us even further back in time and personally I think that this solution, even if more contorted, justifies my curiosity.

Infact, I think that the name Collis macinarum is clearly of Latin origin.

"COLLIS MACINARUM"

INSERT HANDWRITTEN NOTES HERE

This is to say that the origin of the name is to be identified with the mentioned collis macinarum.

If in fact there had not been the Latin go-between, the name would have kept the same accent as the plural Greek term-mechanon - then transforming itself in Italian with a name similar to - collemecano.

These are naturally hypotheses, but they give support to each other, even with the fact that the isolated position of the place even isolated it from naming influences such as the greco-latin elements.

As a further demonstration of this we should add the absence of the already highlighted name "PELIGNA".

We could however give another different meaning to the word macina-mechane`. In fact, both in Greek and Latin the meanings of the word differ widely. From millstone for wheat, to machinery in general, to war machine (machena).

The key to the puzzle should be right in this last meaning taken into consideration. Having spoken of Colle (hill) in an isolated and predominating position, surely sought-after, with the function of control of the valley below, it was, for politicians and the military of those times, a position to be defended, and maybe precisely with war machines, of which the mills of today remain.

However, if we so desired, we would not fail to find a further explanation referring to general machinery. This however would in fact cross the threshold of the era of the agricultural revolution, and, would take us to the third or fourth millennium before Christ.

I refer to the masonry works of the Pelasgic type present in our areas. Infact, for such construction engineering, you needed either men of Cyclops proportions, or probably, normal men who were aided by machinery suitable for the job.

As for today's realization "COLLEDIMACINE", which differs from Colle di macine and from Colle delle macine, we should not be too amazed.

In fact, considering the translation of the Latin plural genitive into Italian, in its most correct form we should have "delle macine", words which across time and through deformation, in its current use, with the pronunciation in dialect of "colle dj llh mmacine", brings us to the version that is currently written as "COLLEDIMACINE".

Bibliography
-Francesco VERLENGIA : Paesi, tradizioni, leggende della valle dell'Aventino.