SANTO STEFANO DI SESSANIO, HISTORY

Santo Stefano di Sessanio is a small medieval village with Renaissance features. It is situated on the slopes of the southern side of the Gran Sasso at 1251 meters above sea level.

The name "Sessanio" is from the Latin "Sextantia", which was the little Roman pagus (country district) situated near the present site of the Church of Santo Stefano, at the foot of the hill on which arose the present village. The term "Sextantia" (six Roman miles) describes its distance from the important Roman settlement of San Marco, located in a valley between Castel del Monte and Calascio. Much archeological evidence of the San Marco settlement remains.

Santo Stefano is perched on a small hill dominated by a circular tower, the "Torre Medicea" and around which the houses were constructed in a sequence of concentric ellipses. The external walls were high and thick and connected together so as to form a protective wall for the town. These structures are called "case-mura" or "case-torri", wall-houses or tower-houses.

The settlement began between the XI and XII century as a stronghold, and gradually took its present form. In time it changed from a defensive fort to a shepherds' village, It survived due to the transhumance (seasonal movement of livestock) and the fruits of the land, including the famous lentil, "lens culinaria", introduced by the inhabitants of Sextantia.

The building of Santo Stefano coincided with the construction of the rest of the fortifications which made up the Barony of Carapelle They were Santo Stefano, Castel del Monte, Rocca Calascio, Castelvecchio Calvisio, and Carapelle Calvisio, from which the Barony takes its name.

The Barony of Carapelle, belonged to a Tuscan family, the Piccolomini Conti of Celano. Within the barony Santo Stefano held an important defensive function. Thanks to the town's strategic location, it had the best view of the bordering Contado Aquilano.
In 1579, Costanza, the only daughter of Innico Piccolomini, ceded the Barony of Carapelle to Francesco de' Medici, Granduke of Tuscany. Under the control of the Medici, which lasted till 1743, Santo Stefano reached its maximum splendor, due to its lucrative wool production. The wool was taken to Tuscany where it was worked and sold throughout Europe.
After two centuries of Medici rule, the town fell under the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, having become the personal property of the King of Naples.
With the unification of Italy, it became a municipality. Following the privatization of the lands in the Tavoliere of the Puglie, the thousand year old transhumance ended and the decline of the town began. The population started to diminish due to the phenomenon of emigration, a trend which accelerated after World War II.
The sad reality of the depopulation actually had a positive result. It was a natural instrument for safeguarding the historic and architectural heritage of the town. In an era in which one strived for the most modern and comfortable, the village remained as it was. Thus, today, one can walk the narrow alleys of Santo Stefano and admire one of the most authentic and beautiful towns in all of Italy.