Sanctuary of the Madonna di Pietraquaria

The Sanctuary of the Madonna di Pietraquaria is a church located on Mount Salviano at about 1,000 metres ASL inside the municipal territory of Avezzano, Abruzzo, Central Italy. Before 1268, in Middle Ages Pietra Aquaria was a populated area, belonging to the Countship of Albe. Here stood three churches devoted to Saint Mary, Saint John and Saint Peter, respectively. In the church committed to the Holy Virgin there was a painting of the Madonna, of unknown age and in a Byzantine fashion, commemorated by using nearby and neighbourhood inhabitants.

The historical activities of the Battle of Tagliacozzo, which happened within the Palentine Plains between Charles I of Anjou and Conradin of Hohenstaufen, caused the destruction of the village of Pietra Aquaria and obliged population to enroll in the ones of Avezzano in Pantano Square. The image of the Holy Virgin remained between the ruined walls of the church. Historian Tommaso Brogi showed that the call originated from the works for the enlargement of the rectangular opposite the sanctuary: all through the digging and demolition of the rock in that region, a few well-described and spaced cistern areas seemed; besides, a few stony canals had been found, which supposedly served to discharge water from the reservoirs.