Santo Stefano

Santo Stefano is located at an altitude of 1050 meters in the municipality of Sante Marie and takes its name from the historic church mentioned by Pope Clement III in the bull of May 31, 1188 (the abbey of S. Stephane in Caprili).
The history of Santo Stefano begins around a Benedictine monastery which, once disappeared, left its mark in the small town built around the surviving church dedicated to the Protomartyr St. Stephen.
Here resides a small community guardian of atavistic traditions, legends, stories, folklore and flavors; a combination of nature and culture that makes this corner of Abruzzo unique.

Among the traditions, proloco proposes:
- the Festa and ji canistri, a specific custom of the wedding party;
- the Capanna, where every year on Christmas Eve on the crest of Mount Faito a huge bonfire is lit at the end of the solemn Mass of 18, visible from the square from which it is hoped for the coming year according to the direction it takes the smoke , if it goes towards the west there will be an abundance of chestnuts, if there is an abundance of grapes towards the east, abundance of crops to the south and general scarcity to the north;
- the 'nosse, before midnight mass the town is filled with torches called N'TOSSE;
- January 17th, the feast of Sant 'Antonio Abate, a festival linked to the peasant religion with the subsequent blessing for the animals and for the crops;