Abruzzo historical timeline

Chronology

1. c. 6540 BC — A skeleton from Lama dei Peligni in the province of Chieti is radiocarbon-dated to this year, marking the arrival of Neolithic farming in Abruzzo after the Mesolithic.
2. 1273 — The Treaty of Alife: Charles I of Anjou splits the Justiciarate of Abruzzo along the Pescara river into Abruzzo Citeriore and Abruzzo Ulteriore. The plural name Abruzzi comes from this division, and the river is still the line between the region's two halves.
3. 1302 — After the Sicilian Vespers and the war that followed, the Peace of Caltabellotta gives Sicily to Aragon and leaves the southern mainland, Abruzzo included, to the Angevins.
4. 1647 — The Abruzzese aristocracy tries to recover control during the rebellion in the Kingdom of Naples led by the fisherman Masaniello.
5. 1703–1707 — Destructive earthquakes devastate L'Aquila in 1703 and Sulmona in 1706, and the War of the Spanish Succession brings an Austrian siege to Pescara in 1707. The region's baroque churches are largely the rebuilding after these.
6. 1806–1815 — Under Napoleon's client kingdom, Abruzzo Ultra is split in two at the Gran Sasso d'Italia. The Bourbons return with the Congress of Vienna and establish the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816, ruling until unification.
7. 1870 — From this year economic conditions drive mass emigration from Abruzzo to other regions and abroad, a major strand of the Italian diaspora. It is why the hill villages have more houses than residents.
8. 1948 — The Italian Constitution joins Abruzzo to Molise as a single region, Abruzzi e Molise. They are separated again in 1963, giving Abruzzo the borders it has now.
9. 2009 — The earthquake of 6 April kills 308 people, the deadliest in Italy since Irpinia in 1980. Reconstruction in L'Aquila and the surrounding region stood at 78 per cent by funding and 88 per cent by project in February 2025, which is why the city is still part building site. Before it, Abruzzo had more castles and hill towns than any other Italian region.
10. 2017 — The ancient beech forests of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park become the region's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Three national parks and a regional one, and proximity to Rome, are what make this one of the greenest regions in Europe.