Faraone

Faraone, also known as Faraone Vecchio and Faraone Antico, is a frazione of the comune of Sant'Egidio alla Vibrata in the province of Teramo, Abruzzo.

It belonged to several noble families, the most important and wealthy being the Ranalli barons, who ruled the area until 1950, the year of the earthquake. Despite the serious damage caused by the earthquake, the descendants of this family still own much of the land of Faraone Nuovo and their baronial title.

The village is the oldest original settlement, from which the inhabitants moved to found Faraone Nuovo, built near the early Christian church of San Vito, when Decree no. 424 of the President of the Republic of 23 February 1952, signed by Luigi Einaudi, ordered the town to be moved to a new site.

The move became necessary both because of the earthquake that hit the village in September 1950 and because of a worsening landslide under the settlement, which made Faraone's houses unsafe and uninhabitable.

As Luigi Ercole recalls, the village «(…) was in times past a Castle, of which some traces remain, and from whose ruins Farone arose.» The compact village spreads between a small cobbled stairway and dirt lanes covered in thick vegetation, through which the old houses can be glimpsed. There are about 25 ruined houses, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, though some look older. It was once entirely enclosed by defensive walls, of which only a few stretches survive.

Text: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · translated from Italian