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The Middle Ages to the present day Even during the Middle Ages the fame of the Thermal Baths of Acquasanta remained unaltered. According to the historian Marcucci, in 800 Charlemagne stopped to take a dip in the sulphurous waters of Acquasanta while travelling from Ascoli to Rome where he was to receive the crown of the Holy Roman Empire.In the years around 1000 Acquasanta was in the grip of the Abbey of Farfa and then the Bishop- Counts of Ascoli. The Benedictine monks founded churches and convents. The first men were the hermits who withdrew to their mountain caves. Among the most important were: San Gerbone, Sant'Angelo dall'Appennino abruzzese, Sant'Egidio and Sant’Amico.During the period of the barbaric invasions Acquasanta suffered attacks by the Visigoths (405), the Goths (540) and the Longobards (568).Around '300 the entire territory of Acquasanta was subjugated to the power of Ascoli. It was divided into sindicati (Unions) along the classic model of the Pievanias, Aquis with its seat in Paggese, Montecalvo with its seat in San Martino, Facciano (now Falciano) and Montacuto with its seat in Pomaro. Quintodecimo appeared later.In 1454, on August 10th, the night of San Lorenzo, the lord of Castello di Luco, Pietro (or Pier) Vanni Ciucci, descended on Ascoli with a large group of fierce mountain dwellers and cut Rinaldo da Folignano, who had the same blood mother as count Francesco Sforza, to pieces. He then seized the tyrant’s palace and proclaimed the sovereignty of the Pontiff.The four Acquasanta unions in the 16th century constituted part of the Church State and were included in the Provincia della Marca Anconetana and had assumed the following names: Acquasanta often called Sindicato di Luco ed Acquasanta, Montacuto, Montecalvo and Quintodecimo; The union of Venamartello, which included the villages to the left of the River Tronto, was autonomous at first but then became part of the union of Acquasanta at the end of the century.At the head of each union there was a Podestà, the head of the medieval community who administered the union assisted by a Parlamento Generale, which was publicised alta et clara voce (loudly and clearly) by a town crier. Acquasanta held parliamentary sittings in the loggia of the church of San Lorenzo in Paggese, Quintodecimo in the Town Building or Town Place, Montecalvo in the loggia of the Church of San Martino and Montacuto in front of the church of S. Lazzaro in Pito.In the 16th century plague raged in Acquasantano and its territory was involved in raids, acts of banditry and carnage caused by the turbulent Ascoli families of Guiderocchi and Parisani. On March 16th, 1562 Acquasanta was destroyed and was recorded in the notaries’ tomes as Case bruciate.Banditry raged on the mountains of Montecalvo as a rebellion against the power of the Church in Ascoli and several times the villages suffered punitive expeditions that caused death, destruction and fire. Finally, at the end of the century, a contingent of Corsican soldiers was assigned to Acquasanta that, after a period of rejection, were integrated into the population and the 17th century passed by without major disturbances.Events of the 18th century that are remembered are the terrible earthquake of 1703, the awful famine of 1716 and the passo degli Spagnoli (the passage of the Spaniards) in the years 1740-46 which brought with it the plague. However, the 18th century is also remembered as a florid period for social and cultural relations. In 1780 the thermal baths complex designed by Lazzaro Giosaffatti was built: "the new tub factory." Acquasanta also suffered the Napoleonic occupation and then the Austrian and Neapolitan troops who passed through. At this juncture the phenomenon of banditry was reborn: Giuseppe Costantini (also known as Sciabolone) and Giambattista Ciucci headed the rebels and won a solemn victory over the French troops whose commanders were forced to sign a treaty in Mozzano on February 5th, 1799. The second Napoleonic period, the Restoration and the Roman Republic of 1849 saw Acquasanta deeply involved while Giovanni Piccioni, the former Prior of Montecalvo took up the banner of the “Volontari Pontifici” (Pontifical volunteers) again. That same year Giuseppe Garibaldi was in Ascoli and it is said that, tired from the journey, he stopped before the tavern in the square to smoke a good cigar; someone went so far as to state that he bathed at the Thermal Baths. Cholera spread throughout the whole territory of Ascoli in 1855, but Acquasanta, except for a few sporadic cases, remained immune to it: the merit perhaps, of its miraculous sulphurous waters.In the years around 1860, following annexation to the Kingdom of Italy, banditry started to arise again, above all thanks to Giovanni Piccioni merit and his sons. The Piedmonts were forced to deploy many troops under the command of General Pinelli, to defeat (not without severe losses), the guerrilla activity of the Volontari Pontifici who, due to the courage of the men, the conformation of the land and the help of the clergy, held forces that were far more numerous than them in check for a couple of years. At the end the brigands were caught, killed in battle or by traitors or assassins. Giovanni Piccioni, betrayed by his followers, was captured in San Benedetto where he had planned to take the train to Rome and in a clamorous trial was sentenced to 17 years hard labour. He would end his days in the Forte Malatesta prison in Ascoli without ever having been officially recognized by the Pope-king to whose cause he had dedicated his whole life.The Royal Decree of December 10th 1865 joined the five municipalities of Acquasanta, S. Maria, Quintodecimo, Montecalvo and Montacuto into one administrative unit with Acquasanta as its main town. At the end of the century the tourist industry linked to the Thermal Baths started up again and in 1904 the first electrical lamps were lit in Acquasanta. The great hydroelectric power station was built in Venamartello that exploited the waters of the River Tronto, deviated from Arquata and then channelled for several kilometres. Acquasanta entered the modern age following the participation of companies including foreign ones in the grand project. What’s more, a daily omnibus service to Ascoli was introduced and the telephone service too. Plans were underway for a railway to connect Ascoli, Antrodoco and Rome, but unfortunately these never came to fruition. |