The territory of Tortoreto is part of the Val Vibrata, even though it is not at all bathed by the waters of the stream that gives its name to the valley. It faces the Adriatic Sea to the east and is bordered to the south, on the border with Giulianova, by the Salinello river, while to the north it borders with Alba Adriatica, and in the hilly area, to the west, it is surrounded by the municipalities of Corropoli, Sant’Omero and Mosciano Sant’Angelo
The town is divided into two different parts: the first, older one, is located on a hill, is known as “Tortoreto Alta” (sometimes “Tortoreto Alto” and is situated between 225 and 240m above sea level. In turn, Tortoreto Alta is made up of the ancient medieval village and the two traditional districts of Terravecchia and Terranova.
Tortoreto does not offer any solution of continuity with respect to the territory of Alba Adriatica , which until 1956 was a Tortoreto fraction with the name of Tortoreto Stazione. Even today, despite the different existing administrative realities, the two locations offer a de facto unity both from the building point of view, and from that of the street furniture, and from that of the communication routes.
The places of greatest historical and artistic interest, perhaps among the most important of the Teramo Renaissance period, are found in Tortoreto Paese, including:
Frescoes of the Church of Mercy
Santa Maria della Misericordia (1348), a late Romanesque church built after the plague epidemic dedicated to Maria della Misericordia , where you can see the frescoes representing the life and Passion of Jesus painted in 1526 by Giacomo Bonfini from Ascoli and his students. Since 1902, the religious building has been included in the list of Italian National Monuments.
The exterior is very simple, with a rectangular plan and a gabled ceiling, covered in brick, with the façade decorated with an architraved portal, surmounted by a window in line. The internal nave preserves the precious cycle of late Renaissance frescoes, which occupy both the barrel vault and the cross vault with ribs of the semicircular apse. The theme of the Redemption of Humanity culminates in the apse triptych, where scenes of the Crucifixion are depicted: in the background is painted a panorama of Tortoreto with the main entrance gate, the towers of the walls, and the sea with the ships.
On the walls of the nave are scenes of the Passion, while the central panels of the walls adjacent to the entrance are occupied by two large altars, on which are depicted the Virgin of Mercy with Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Rocco on the sides, and on the right the Nativity with Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In the center of the vault is the large fresco of the Risen Christ, in the sails of the cross vault the Four Evangelists with the symbols of the Tetarmorph and the Madonna meditating on the Bible.
Parish church of San Nicola, founded before the 11th century, rebuilt in 1534, with an 18th century façade and renovations in 1950 and 2005. It has a brick-covered façade, gabled, enclosed by lateral pilasters, and on it opens the simple portal with a flat architrave,
surmounted by a tympanum, with the statuette of San Nicola above in a niche, surmounted by a large central window in line. On one side of the façade there is a stone plaque with a Latin inscription referring to the 16th century building.
The single-nave interior was extensively redone in the twentieth century (1950), covered with polychrome marble, with the nave marked by pillars decorated with Corinthian capitals, which divide the lateral spaces into a simple altar, or a deep chapel (3 in total). Above, the vaults are barrel-vaulted, divided into bays by large semicircular pillars, and the paintings depict an idealized form of the celestial Heaven. The presbytery is accessible through a triumphal arch, which leads to the semicircular apse, with frescoes of Christ enthroned between the Madonna and the saints.
Church of Sant’Agostino (also called Sant’Antonio or Sant’Eufemia, 1639), in Baroque style , a single- nave building with a ribbed vault and altars with stucco decorations, next to which stands a convent of Augustinian friars active until 1809. In this church, moreover, is located the Baptism of Sant’Agostino (1653), a canvas by Mattia Preti.
The church has a single nave with a ribbed vault and Baroque side altars, with stucco decorations. The altarpiece of the main altar was a canvas on wood, while in a side chapel there is a terracotta statue of the Madonna. The entrance portal is in bronze, from 1988, the work of Romano Buffagni, framed in the broken tympanum frame, supported by two lateral columns, the tympanum is surmounted like the church of San Nicola by a much more elaborate niche with the statue of the dedicatee saint, in turn surmounted in the center of the facade by a large window, the lateral bell tower is a tower; next to the church there is the former convent, equipped with a library, an oil mill and an oven.
In 1809 it was suppressed by French laws and since 1894 it has been entrusted to the nuns of San Giuseppe.
Church of Carmine: located just outside the city walls, built in 1529 at the end of the plague that struck Italy. Originally dedicated to San Rocco, then in 1881 to the Madonna, it was extensively renovated in neoclassical style, with an exposed brick exterior, without being plastered. The façade has a white stone architraved portal, framed between two cylindrical columns with Doric capitals, while on the two extreme sides of the façade there are pilasters that support the projecting frame with a triangular tympanum, also supported by the Doric capitals of the two columns. The interior has a single nave, very simple. (Wikipedia)
Photos by Fabrizio Fiorenzano
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