Description : Teramo (Abruzzese: Tèreme ) is a city and comune in the Italian region of Abruzzo, the capital of the province of Teramo. The city, 150 kilometres (93 miles) from Rome, is situated between the highest mountains of the Apennines (Gran Sasso d'Italia) and the Adriatic coast. The town is located by the confluence of the Vezzola and Tordino rivers, on a hillside area where the terrain features along with the Mediterranean climate make the territory rich in vineyards and olive groves. Pre Roman Age A settlement of the 1st millennium BC and some buildings of ancient Italic tribes were the object of archaeological excavations. The most ancient historical remains were found in the outskirts of the city, precisely in the neighborhood Madonna delle grazie, where, among many, a burial place with a dagger and a halberd were found. Allegedly, the development of the old settlement was due to the commercial center founded by the Etruscan and Phoenician civilization. According to the Roman author Sextus Julius Frontinus, the ancient Perut or Pretut (meaning "Hill surrounded by waters") strongly developed in dimensions and importance until it became the capital of the Praetutii tribe. Roman age In the battle of Sentinum (295 BC), the Romans defied the Italian confederation (Sabellians, Etrusci, Umbri and their allies the Gauls), starting the Samnite Wars. In 290 BC the Sabine area, along with the Praetutii’s region was occupied by the legions sent by the consul general Manius Curius Dentatus. The city took the Latin name of Interamnia Praetuttiorum ("City of the Praetutii between two rivers"). During the reign of Augustus Interamnia is included in the Picenum district. The area of the current province was divided from south to north into the Ager Hatrianus, Ager Praetutianus and Ager Palmense. After the Second Social War Interamnia became a municipium. The city lost the status of Municipium because of the participation of Lucius Cornelius Sulla in the Social war (91–88 BC), but the city will subsequently regain it for expressed will of Julius Caesar. During the Roman age, thanks to its nearness to the capital of the empire, the city lived a prosperous and favorable moment as proven by the numerous mosaics, theater, thermal baths and the amphitheater remains. As historians like Ptolemy, Livy and Pliny remember, the city reached its best period under the emperor Hadrian, with the constructions of the temples dedicated to Mars and Apollo. Middle Ages Little is known about Teramo in the early Middle Ages, after first destruction of the city in the year 410 by the Visigoths under Alaric I. The Ostrogoths ruled Interamnia 552–554 AD. Right after the Gothic War (6th century), the city became a Byzantine possession. Teramo was included in the Marchia Firmana, part of the Exarchate of Ravenna. Later it was a Lombard fief and part of the Duchy of Spoleto. In 1129 the city was conquered by the Normans, as part of the County of Apulia. In 1140 it became a possession of Roger II of Sicily, the first King of Sicily. During the strife following Roger's coronation, Teramo was destroyed by a Norman force under Robert II of Loritello. Only the tower of Piazza Sant’Anna was saved from this sack; from this moment on it will be called Torre Bruciata (burnt tower). In the 1268 the domination of the House of Hohenstaufen, who had inherited Sicily from Roger II's line, ended; they were replaced by the House of Anjou. The ecclesiastical authority of the Aprutina Diocese, led by the bishops Rainaldo Acquaviva, Niccolò degli Arcioni (1317), Stefano da Teramo (1335) and Pietro di Valle (1366) boosted the city's economy, as witnessed by the construction of castles, churches, cloisters and palaces along with the great privileges granted by the sovereigns. Within the following two centuries Teramo became part of the Kingdom of Naples.
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