Bucchianico, a few minutes from Chieti
Just 10 kilometers from the Best Western Parco Paglia Hotel is Bucchianico, a small town located on a hill next to the Maiella massif and from which you can enjoy an appreciable panorama that sweeps from the mountains to the sea.
The geological nature of its territory favors the formation of characteristic gullies, a geomorphological phenomenon of soil erosion that is produced by the effect of water washout on degraded clayey rocks, which with their imposing appearance extend for about 3.5 kilometers and in height exceeds 100 giving the territory a very particular aspect.
In 1550 he was the birthplace of Camillo de Lellis, who after a dissipated youth as a soldier of fortune, underwent a profound conversion, starting a charitable life in various places in Italy and Europe, founding the Order of Ministers in Rome in 1582 of the Sick.
The famous sanctuary, the convent and the house museum dedicated to him make it a rather popular religious pilgrimage site with very frequent events dedicated to the saint.
Bucchianico is also known for the Festa dei Banderesi (in dialect "de li bannaraisë"). Festival that traces an event that took place in the fourteenth century when Bucchianico was threatened by the nearby Teate (Chieti). The citizens of the nearby countryside were forced to close themselves within the city walls, protected by the Sergeant (the captain of the municipal troop). The men dressed in red and blue bands (the colors of the municipal coat of arms, hence the name of the festival) and carried their supplies on ox-drawn carts, while the women carried baskets full of other stuff on the head. Strategically Bucchianico was weaker than Teate and would certainly be defeated but legend has it that Sant'Urbano, the first Pope who was born in Bucchianico, who appeared in a dream to the Sergeant, recommended the winning military strategy: to dress many men with armor and arm them with weapons and make them run here and there on the patrol walkways of the walls making their opponents believe they are in the minority and thus succeeding in making them desist from the attack. To celebrate the victory, the festival is still celebrated, which attracts visitors and onlookers in large numbers; every year, on the last Sunday of May, the event is commemorated with an impressive historical parade with traditional floats made in the various districts of the country, figures and the famous paper flower baskets. The parade crosses the whole town to end in the square with the famous "ciammaichella" which symbolically recalls the race of the peasants on the walls and with the "Tizzo" game of strength and play at the same time. Every year, on the occasion of the feast there is also the celebration of the jubilee opening of the Holy Door at the Church of Sant’Urbano where the relics of the Saint are also kept.
maury3001, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons