Anversa degli Abruzzi

Anversa is a small village situated in the Valley of the river Sagittarius, in Abruzzo. Surrounded by the mountains of the Apennines, has approximately 350 inhabitants, of which 15 in the beautiful village of Castrovalva. The historical center preserves a medieval atmosphere and is embellished by the magnificent Romanesque churches in Abruzzi in San Marcello (the patron) and Santa Maria delle Grazie, from the ruins of the Norman Castle, by the old houses of the Master Lombardi, from the narrow alleys scalinati and by the picturesque little squares. Important are the traces of the past also attested by the presence of Italic necropolis and ancient vestiges. Also noteworthy is the Literary Park Gabriele d Annunzio, that with the village of Antwerp has always had a deep bond.

Since the antiquity poets, writers and painters have decanted the beauties of Anversa and Valle del Sagittario. Special mention should be given to Torquato Tasso that in 1500, a guest of the family patron of Auditors Belprato, dedicated a sonnet to spring waters of Cavuto. Among the major artists “travellers’ foreigners should remember: Richard Keppel Craven (Journey through the Abruzzo, 1837); Edward Lear (Journey through the picturesque Abruzzo, 1846); Helen Hester Colvinn (A ramble in the Abruzzi, 1907); Anne MacDonnel (in the Abruzzi, 1908); Amy Atkinson (In the Abruzzi, 1908); Estella Canziani (through the Apennines and the lands of the Abruzzi, 1928); Maurits Cornelis Escher (travel notebook and lithographs, 1930). We must also mention the images shot by famous photographers such as Thomas Ashby and Fulvio Roiter.

The relationship with Escher
during his journey of 1930 even the great Dutch artist, climbing the Valle del Sagittario, remained impressed by the evocative territory and wanted to represent him in his works. The famous lithography “Castrovalva” of Escher, exposed in the Museum of Art in Washington, is considered by many critics that higher thickness of the landscaped period of the artist. The great critic Bruno Ernst thus describes it: “The nature of this unknown place, this mountain path, of these clouds on the horizon, the valley, the essence of the whole composition is a profound synthesis. On this evocative sheet, Castrovalva results in all its essence of common good understandable to all”.

Already in the early years of 1500 in Anversa was a flourishing industry for the processing and the production of articles in ceramic art. I am testimony of some valuable works of the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, tiles tratturale Church of S. Maria delle Grazie in Collarmele, the statue of San Rocco in the mother Church of Antwerp and numerous tools. In the following centuries was unfortunately abandoned the artistic workmanship of the ceramics and developed instead an intensive production of crockery and clay articles, with many families of craftsmen and artisans with ovens. Objects more typical are the pignata and the cuckoo. In the village of Antwerp is also open an ancient workshop with the furnace.

As regards the food and wine, there are several products that characterize the village of Anversa degli Abruzzi: from olive oil to wine Montepulciano, from cheese and ricotta cheese of sheep to the typical charcuterie, from guitar to lamb sauce to roast game. Without forgetting the local sweets and the homemade liqueurs.