{"id":1050,"date":"2014-05-20T10:40:21","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T10:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/?p=1050"},"modified":"2014-05-20T10:41:27","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T10:41:27","slug":"acquasanta-terme-travertine-in-its-many-forms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/art-and-culture\/acquasanta-terme-travertine-in-its-many-forms.html","title":{"rendered":"Acquasanta Terme: travertine in its many forms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The itinerary comes to an end in Acquasanta Terme, a well-known spa town in the upper Tronto valley<\/strong>, often referred to as the \u201ctravertine valley<\/strong>\u201d due to the presence of travertine quarries, particularly in the area between Acquasanta and Ascoli Piceno<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Due to its durability and ease of cutting<\/strong>, travertine has been used for construction and ornamental purposes<\/strong>, and for the internal and external cladding of buildings since ancient times. As well as boosting the economy of the towns and villages in the upper Tronto valley, travertine and these construction traditions have left a unique and unmistakable mark on many settlements.<\/p>\n

Paggese<\/strong>, for example, is home to small squares, balconies, epigraphs and architraves of doors and windows, all made from travertine. As well as boasting an exquisitely made 14th-century travertine baldachin, the 13th-century parish church of San Lorenzo Martire also houses tombstones set into the floor made from slabs of compact travertine. Meanwhile, Valledacqua<\/strong> is home to the Abbazia di San Benedetto, made entirely from travertine.<\/p>\n

The success of travertine has fostered the development of techniques, quarrying processes and artisanal workmanship which probably originated in the 15th century<\/strong>, when the so-called \u201cmagistri de preta\u201d [master stonecutters] appear in certain statutes of the city of Ascoli. Since the 15th century, these techniques have been practised and handed down by generations of stonemasons <\/strong>and are still used today to create cladding and flooring.<\/p>\n

Today, the artisanal workmanship of travertine in Acquasanta has been almost completely replaced by industrial processing techniques, but the link with the past and with traditional techniques is kept alive by the activity of a number of stonemasonry workshops, which also use this material to make pots, benches and fireplaces, as well as souvenirs and ornamental objects such as penholders and paperweights.<\/p>\n

\u201cLe Forme del Travertino<\/strong>\u201d, an open-air sculpture competition held every August, provides an excellent opportunity to gain direct experience of artistic travertine working techniques and to observe the methods and tools used by the artists.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Travel tips<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Accommodation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Agriturismo La valle verde<\/p>\n

Contrada Valledacqua, 1; agrilavalleverde@libero.it<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Country House Castel di Luco
\n<\/strong>Frazione Castel di Luco, 0736 802319; casteldiluco@tiscali.it<\/a>; www.casteldiluco.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

B&B Cuore<\/p>\n

Frazione Collefalciano, 19; 3393246231; info@bb-cuore.it<\/a>; www.bb-cuore.it\u200e<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eating out<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peperino<\/p>\n

Frazione Santa Maria; 0736 802494<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ristorante Il Bucaneve<\/p>\n

Frazione Centrale; 0736 801114<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What to see<\/strong><\/p>\n

Centro di Educazione Ambientale Asaspeoclub, Frazione Santa Maria<\/p>\n

3779942009; geotritone1@libero.it e\u00a0www.ambiente.marche.it<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What to buy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Il Boccetto \u2013 chestnuts<\/p>\n

Via Salaria, 13; info@ilboccetto.it<\/a>; www.ilboccetto.it<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nunzio Liberato Scioli \u2013 crafted travertine<\/p>\n

Via Salaria km 184; 0736801250<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poli Annibale \u2013 crafted travertine<\/p>\n

Fraz. Paggese 35\/37; 338\/9887564<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Catalucci Franco \u2013 crafted travertine<\/p>\n

Fraz. Santa Maria; 0736802320<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The itinerary comes to an end in Acquasanta Terme, a well-known spa town in the upper Tronto valley, often referred to as the \u201ctravertine valley\u201d due to the presence of travertine quarries, particularly in the area between Acquasanta and Ascoli Piceno. Due to its durability and ease of cutting, travertine has been used for construction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-and-culture"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1050"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1053,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions\/1053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}