The history of Assergi begins before the Roman
conquest. The village was founded by the Vestinos, the Italic people living in Italy before the birth of Rome.
The ancient Assergi was built two kilometers
from where the current town is located. Initially it was built in a place named
"Ju Forne" and the village was called Prifernum,
meaning "before the oven", because it was famous for the
silica processing in the ovens near the village.
During the Roman Age, Prifernum
became a military encampment and was named Castrum Asserici, and was
populated by the people working with the silica processing.
The current Assergi village was founded during
the medieval age, when the Santa
Maria in Silicem monastery was founded, from which the village takes its
name, as we can read in a Pope Alessandro III's document. The monastery was
destroyed and in that place another church was built, which preserves San
Franco's mortal remains, the saint hermit who died in a cave near Assergi and San Pietro della Ienca.
In the XIII century, Assergi was
one of several towns contributing to build L'Aquila. Then, it became a part of the
Caffarelli-Cenci family feud.
In the XVIII century, the village
was part of the Commune of Camarda, which was abolished in
1927. And during the Fascist age, the town became an important touristic
center: in fact, it was built the Gran Sasso's Cableway, which
linked the close Fonte Cerreto with the mountain of Campo
Imperatore.
Today, Assergi continues
to host many tourists who want to ski or to spend their holidays in the heart
of the Nature, in the Gran Sasso's National Park. However Assergi is also
very important because of the famous Gran Sasso National Laboratory,
where recently the particle that is faster than light was found.
Below, one of the most moving video played in Assergi in 1978: the life of the people living these places lives again in the eyes and hearts of us watching that. The History becomes Life...
