The alleys and squares of the ancient village

The ancient village of Controguerra, seen from above, has a drop shape, with the belly consisting of the complex of buildings along the ring road - the multipurpose square side - and the tip corresponding to the Torrione. In ancient times it was accessed only from Porta Maggiore (or dell'Angelo), but today there are four access points: the aforementioned Porta Maggiore, the entrance to Via Roma (opened with the demolition of Palazzo Flajani), the Vicolo delle Siciliane and the open space of the Torrione.

The buildings of the village date back, for the most part, to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but externally they are almost all presented with the appearance of the imposing restorations of the Napoleonic era (1805-1815). Only two buildings are visible that still show the characteristic elements of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: a house in Vicolo Angusto and one in Vicolo Tortuoro delle Volpi, opposite the apse of the church of San Benedetto Abate. Both are not in good condition and show, on the contrary, evident signs of degradation, due to abandonment and wear and tear over time.

The historic center of Controguerra is characterized by a particular architectural order: a central avenue, i.e. Via Roma (before the Fascist period it was called Via Centrale or Via del Borgo), from which very characteristic alleys and open spaces branch off.

Ideally walking through the historic center from the eastern entrance, which leads directly onto Via Roma, you come across Vicolo Non Plus Ultra on the left, so called because, before the demolition of Palazzo Flajani, it was the last alley in the town.

It is a rather narrow alley that reveals some structural characteristics of the buckets. XVI and XVII, like the typical rounded cut on the corners of the houses to allow the carts to turn easily. The last house in the alley has an entrance with a brick round arch and reinforcing elements that support the structure above, which were probably the base of a watchtower. At the entrance to Via Roma there is a beautiful stately building which, in the past, belonged to the Orsetti family, notables of the town, then it was the residence of the Paolini family. There was born Don Oderico Paolini, an important religious figure of Teramo. A very interesting coat of arms, probably dating back to the 17th century. XVIII, is located on a house on the corner with Vicolo Non Plus Ultra and Vicolo delle Siciliane, at number n. 3. More generally, in the old village several gates are adorned with elegant coats of arms placed on the architrave or on the vault.

A few meters away from the entrance to Vicolo Non Plus Ultra, still on the left side of Via Roma, is Vicolo delle Siciliane. The origin of the name is uncertain; perhaps they went to live there in the Bourbon era of the Sicilians who led to indicate, with the place of origin, par excellence, the entire street, or there were architectural or decorative elements of Sicilian style (e.g. Sicilian majolica).

Currently, the area is undergoing redevelopment and the demolition of a building in dilapidated conditions will allow the creation of a square. The alley is not closed, but comes out on the North Ring Road. Right at the end of the alley, along the Northern ring road, there is the last pinciaia of the ancient village. It is a two-storey earthen house which has been preserved because it was partly covered in brick, in the second half of the last century. Not even this building is in good condition.

Before the building in Vicolo delle Siciliane was demolished, in the middle of the alley there was a small square which was once inhabited by many craftsmen: blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers. At the base of some structures, the shoe base typical of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries can still be guessed, as it is useful for increasing the buildings' resistance to artillery shots.

Along the alley you can admire the characteristic brick lampstands at the windows, which until the nineteenth century were usually used, especially by craftsmen, to "extend" the day, by placing candles or lamps on them which allowed for light in the evening hours and thus complete the work due. On some walls and doors of the houses political symbols dating back to the 1950s are still visible. At number no. 10 of the demolished building there was a beautiful clay slab with a rosette, dating back to the 16th century. XVII, set in the wall of the house. Currently the element is kept in the municipal deposit.

Continuing along Via Roma you come to Piazza della Verdura, an open space that bears this name because in the past it was the place for the trade of vegetables and land products on market days. On the corner between Via Roma and Piazza della Verdura there is a plaque of the Fascist Ventennio which recalls the change in the road toponymy. On the right side of Via Roma is the main entrance to the town, with the characteristic arch that opens towards Piazza del Commercio. On the left side, at the corner of Piazza della Verdura, there is Vicolo Angusto, whose name probably originates from the structural characteristics of the same. On the left side of Vicolo Angusto there is a house that appears not to have undergone the intrusive external restorations of the Napoleonic era, but is not in good condition. At the end of the alley there is a beautiful door with a plaque with an inscription bearing the date «1770».

After Piazza della Verdura, Vicolo Celeste opens up on the right, ending with a small balcony from which you can enjoy a nice view of Piazza del Commercio. The name of the street could derive from the fact that, in ancient times, the houses had a blue colour, or from the fact that, at certain times of the day, looking down the alley, from the opening onto Piazza del Commercio, one can observe a delightful glimpse of sky.

In the Vicolo Celeste the characteristic "bridges" are visible, i.e. rooms that connected rooms belonging to two different buildings. In the alley there is a small internal courtyard and on a house there are, on the sides of a window, two brick lampstands, like those of Vicolo delle Siciliane. On the last door of the alley there is a now historic sign of the medical-surgical office of Dr. Goffredo Salutanzi, who was the town's doctor from the 1920s until the 1970s.

Opposite Vicolo Celeste, on the left side of Via Roma, opens Piazza Mazzini, the largest square in the historic centre. Precisely because of its size, in the past, on fair and market days, animals were sold there. This practice remained in use until the early twentieth century, when the sale of cattle in the municipal cattle farm was imposed. Piazza Mazzini presents itself today as a distinct living room with a rectangular plan. On some buildings the slightly sloped base is still visible. On the north-west side of the square there is a stately building, although not in good condition, which was the first counter-war residence of the Crescenzis. On the wrought iron ornaments that surmount the main entrance door, the initials «C.C.», referable to Camillo Crescenzi, who bought it in the first decades of the nineteenth century, are still distinguishable. Piazza Mazzini has, inside, another small square, from which two alleys unfold: one that joins up with Via Roma and is characterized by a round arch that supports the structure above, and another that emerges into the small square behind to the mother church and rejoins Piazza Garibaldi with Vicolo Tortuoro delle Volpi, a ruetta which I will talk about later. A house in the alley that leads from Piazza Mazzini to Via Roma preserves, in the windows, the lampstands already encountered in Vicolo delle Siciliane and in Vicolo Celeste.

Returning to Via Roma, some interesting courtyards are worth mentioning, which were once also alleys of the town. In a house on the right, before Largo della Chiesa, Father Guido Costantini was born, a Franciscan friar known for his piety towards the least and for the Hospitality and Assistance Work he founded in Ancona, which is still active today.

Largo della Chiesa is a small square that opens in front of the mother church of San Benedetto Abate, built starting from 1610, enlarging a previous church dedicated to San Pietro Apostolo. On the right is the Vicolo del Passero, a very suggestive alley that ends with a watchtower. The road probably owes its name to the typical rock-pigeon bird. On the left, however, there is Vicolo Simone, which ends with a secondary entrance to the church of San Benedetto Abate. The origin of the name of the Alley is uncertain, but it can be assumed that it derives from the patronymic or surname of a family that lived there.

The pavement in front of the mother church has a star motif, made with slabs of polychrome marble. The main entrance portal of the sacred building has a typically neoclassical style and is adorned with an epigraph on the travertine architrave, which recalls the restorations of the Napoleonic era, and with a superb contemporary municipal coat of arms. The intimate environment and the interesting details, such as the seventeenth-century clay slabs affixed to the sides of the facade of the mother church, increase the charm and elegance of the open space.

At the top of Via Roma opens Piazza Garibaldi, dominated by three buildings which, in the past, could be said to be symbols of city power: Palazzo Massimi-Crescenzi, unfortunately not in good condition, Palazzo Comunale, now the headquarters of the Enoteca and of the Youth and Elderly Center of Controguerra, and the mother church of San Benedetto Abate. On the north-east side, near the entrance to the Enoteca Comunale, there is an ancient fountain.

On the North-West side of Piazza Garibaldi, there is the entrance to Vicolo Tortuoro delle Volpi (formerly Vicolo Tortuoso delle Volpi), another characteristic alley that opens onto a small square behind the apse of the mother church, from which you can enjoy a glimpse of the Tronto valley. The square communicates with Piazza Mazzini thanks to another alley, already mentioned. In Vicolo Tortuoro delle Volpi you can also see the other house in the town which retains its sixteenth-seventeenth century appearance but, like the one in Vicolo Angusto, is in a state of decay. As for the name of the alley, once again I can only formulate hypotheses: more than the "foxes" properly understood, I believe the origin of the name should be attributed to the surname of a family.

Concluding our ideal journey in the old town, beyond Piazza Garibaldi we arrive at the Palazzo Ducale degli Acquaviva and the medieval tower, the last building in the historic center that you come across following the proposed itinerary.