Chiesa di San Bartolomeo

The church of San Bartolomeo rises on a rocky slope with a spectacular mountain view (Mount Pietrarossa). It is part of the ancient and important abbey complex founded in 962 by Bernardo, son of Linduno, Count of Penne, restored in the 12th century and again renovated in the 13th one. The monastery originally hosted a Benedictine congregation, receiving from the archbishop of Benevento a presumed arm of San Bartomeo; the monastery flourished quickly and its prestige and possessions increased , as widely acknowledged by Monk Alessandro in the Chronicon . In 1258 the feudal rights of the Abbey of San Bartolomeo were given to the nearby complex of Santa Maria di Civitella Casanova in Carpineto. The Abbey became so dependent on this monastery that it adopted the Cistercian rule. In the 14th century, the decline began. After being abandoned by the monks, the architectural structures were severely damaged and only the church was left as spectator of the grandeur of the Abbey in the Middle Age.In this extraordinary complex, in the back there is a rectangular apse adorned by a single-lancet and a rose window, and a double light bell-gable. The exquisite church is preceded by a double arched portico, with a large bell tower on the left collapsed in the upper part. The gorgeous architrave portal is ornamented with wrap-around animals of various shapes, similar to the artwork of Master Acuto, a sculptor who lived and worked in Abruzzo during the 12th century.The interior, has three naves, divided by three arches on each side on high pillars and the transept, recalls the same floorplan pattern in Sa Clemente at Casauria. Beautiful single-lancet windows, often adorned with knotted and spiral side columns, lighten the presbytery and the arms of the transept; the altar has a four-column chapel with capitals elaborated animal figures (10th century) and Romanesque capital bases. On the left nave, near the crypt ladder (three-sided apse and pillars), a door leads into a barrel vault space. The last restoration works date back to the seventies. Externally, on the right of the church, there are the ruins of some rooms of the monastery, buried under an embankment.From the area in front of the church originates the "Abbeys Path", an ancient trail used to connect the Abbey of Santa Maria di Casanova (Villa Celiera) to the church. This itinerary is included in the tourist route of the Gran Sasso National Park and Monti della Laga, and is marked according to CAI regulations.