Amatrice

Its origins?

According to archaeological remains, dating back to the Roman and found on its territory, Amatrice has been known since the protohistoric age. Lying along the Via Salaria, it has been was populated since pre-Roman times. Many villages of the present-day municipality, were mentioned in the “Regesto of Farfa” between the mid-8th to the beginning of the 12th century. Among them, the territory of Matrice was mentioned, in 1012 and 1037, in the diploma through which Emperor Conrad II confirmed his possessions to the Bishop of Ascoli. Only around 1265, at the time of King Manfred of Swabia, Amatrice became part of the Kingdom of Naples. Several times, the city of Amatrice rebelled against the Angevin dominion to which it did not want to submit. In 1271 and 1274, Charles of Anjou sent armies to defeat the resistance of the local people and reduce the city to obedience. In the same period, the town's influence widely extended over a territory ranging from Campotosto to the borders of Cittareale, and including many castles and villages on the Teramo side. During the 14th and 15th centuries Amatrice, traditionally allied with the city of Ascoli, was in constant struggle with the surrounding cities and castles for border and prestige issues. The conflicts with Norcia, Arquata, and L'Aquila have remained famous. The people of Amatrice took part, alongside the militias commanded by Braccio Fortebraccio da Montone, in the long siege of L'Aquila, and in the final battle of June 1424, which marked the defeat of Braccio, died on the field. During the numerous conflicts between the Angevins and the Aragonese, over the possession of the Kingdom of Naples, Amatrice strongly supported the Aragonese so much that King Ferdinand of Aragon, once the Barons revolt of 1485 had quelled, rewarded the city granting it the privilege of minting coins with the motto: 'Fidelis Amatrix'. However, less forty years later, precisely in February 1529, after a heroic resistance, Amatrice was reconquered and sacked by Filiberto di Chalon, Charles V's general. Between 1582 and 1692, Amatrice passed under the rule of a branch of the Orsini family, and later to the Medici of Florence, who preserved it until 1737. On 7 October 1639, the Princes Orsini had to abandon the city, destroyed by a violent earthquake whose shock cliamed hundreds of lives. The week after there was a futher strong shock, so that many inhabitants fled to the countryside, where tents were set up, while others sought refuge in the church of San Domenico. On the night of October 18, the inhabitants of Leonessa, took advantage of the confusion to steal and bring back to his hometown the mortal remains of San Giuseppe da Leonessa that, at the time, were kept in Amatrice (where the saint had died 27 years earlier). Many buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, including the Palace of the Orsini Princes, that at the time of the earthquake was located outside the city, the Palace of the Regiment, and the church of the Crucifix. The population was to forced emigrate to Rome and Ascoli Piceno due to the effects of the earthquake, whose effects were described, in detail, in a report published by Carlo Tiberi in 1639. In 1759, the fiefdom became part of the personal domains of the King of Naples. At the end of the 18th century, and for almost the entire following century, Amatrice was affected by the phenomenon of political and social banditry, while a crucial role in the Italian Renaissance was played by the “patriots” of Amatrice, such as Piersilvestro Leopardi, Don Giuseppe Minozzi, and Don Nicola Rosei. After the unification of Italy, Amatrice was inserted into the Abruzzo region, in the Province of L'Aquila but only in 1927, after the institution of the Province of Rieti, it became part of Lazio.