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Departing from Gagliano Aterno introduces you to a secluded landscape made up of silent streets, stone houses and views that do not seek to impose themselves, but remain in the memory precisely because of their scale. This village is also described as a place that is regaining energy through new forms of cultural and community life, but without losing the link to its own history. But in this stage, the most evocative impression comes from the link with St Francis. Various sources say that it was from the castle of Gagliano that the saint - a guest of the Counts of Celano between 1216 and 1222 according to local tradition - indicated the place where the convent of Castelvecchio Subequo was to be built. It is a detail that gives the stage a very rare narrative cohesion, almost an inner direction, even before a geographical one.
Along the route, the waypoint that gathers and restores this link is the Church and Convent of St Francis, a monumental complex built in the late 13th century. Even today, it is one of the most important places of Franciscan spirituality in Abruzzo. The church has 14th-century frescoes by the Giotto school, dedicated to the life of the saint. It also contains Baroque altars and a relic of exceptional devotional value, a reliquary with the blood of St Francis, kept in the convent together with other works from the Museum of Sacred Art. It is no coincidence that Castelvecchio Subequo is called 'the Little Assisi in the land of Abruzzo.' The Franciscan complex represents the point where your journey finds its fullest destination, between art, faith and the memory of pilgrimage. It is a stage that can be very appealing to those who want to experience the journey as a coming-closer, rather than as an accumulation.
