Fontecchio

Fontecchio is a stone town, well recovered after the extensive damage caused by the earthquake in 2009 and rarely visited by tourists, which resembles a period photograph. The structure is typical of mediaeval fortified villages, with a dense network of cobbled streets, steep stairways, access gates, walls and towers: you can have an overview of it while arriving in the town along the road from Rocca di Mezzo. Beside the fortified section is Piazzetta del Popolo ("People's Square"), with one of the local symbols: the beautiful fourteenth-century limestone fountain, decorated with lion-faced masks, which is also featured in the town's coat of arms. Near the fountain, a votive shrine preserves a precious 15th-century fresco depicting the Madonna and Child, with colours that are still vivid despite the damage of time. Also on the square are the ancient communal oven, where families used to bake bread, and the parish church of Santa Maria della Pace, founded in the 11th century and rebuilt after the devastating earthquake that struck Fontecchio and the entire region in 1703. 

The fortified village can be accessed through the medieval gate on the south side of the square: at the top of the hill stands the fifteenth-century Clock Tower, another symbol of this village just waiting to be discovered. The clock, which is very old, has only one hand because it keeps time according to the "Italian method", i.e., the clock face is divided into six hours, with four revolutions of the hand each day. The tower houses a touching permanent photographic exhibition dedicated to the city of L'Aquila and the areas around it, before and after the 2009 earthquake.