LETTOMANOPPELLO
(Pg. 21)
Page 25 (people/places 2003)
Page 26 (new hotel - La Noce)
Page 27 (people/places 2003)
Page 28
(people/places 2003)
Page 29 (Nino Di Pietrantonio)
Page 30 (people/places 2003)
Page 31 (Anagrafe / Stato Civile)
Page 32 (people/places 2004)
Page 33 (people/places 2004)
Page 34 (people/places 2004)
Page 35 (S. Nicola Church 2005)
Page 36 for future construction
Page 1 (history/photos)
Page 2 (history/photos)
Page 3 (history/photos)
Page 4 (photos)
Page 5 (photos)
Page 6 (photos)
Page 7 (photos: festa)
Page 8 (stone-sculpting)
Page 9 (Iconicella)
Page 10 (people/places)
Page 11 (people/places)
Page 12 (festa 2000)
Page 13 (Marcinelle)
Page 14 (Marcinelle)
Page 15 (people/places 2001)
Page 16 (people/places 2001)
Page 17 (people/places 2001)
Page 18 (people/places 2001)
Page 19 (people/places 2001)
Page 20 (sculpting school)
Page 21 (fonte)
Page 22 (old photos)
Page 23 ( history)
Page 24 (street map)
RESTORED FONTE IN LETTOMANOPPELLO
"Le fonte", springs, are very characteristic of Abruzzese mountain villages. Sources of drinking water for people and animals,  they can be found in every village as well as in the surrounding countryside - one is seldom far from a source of water.  The fonte in the countryside are intended for the flocks and for sheepdogs as well as for humans, and they are therefore usually simple stone troughs - the water flows in through a pipe suspended at one end, from which people can draw water, while the animals drink from the trough.

But within the villages, where the fonte are intended primarily for human use - and perhaps the use of the ever-present dogs and cats - they are often more elaborate, and decorated with carved stone.  In recent years several of the fonte in Lettomanoppello have been restored with new stone sculptures.  Below are four of the restored fonte, each with a 'before' photo on the left and an 'after' photo on the right, provided by Lucia D'Alfonso of Lettomanoppello.  Two of the fonte, the first and third, were done by local sculptors.
Fonte Piazza Umberto I, before (left) and after (right).  This fonte is in the town's main square, adjacent to the town hall.  Before the restoration the fonte was a simple cast metal upright post, as can be seen on the left.  The new fonte, at right, was carved from local straw-yellow stone by Maria Franco Petronio Del Ponte, using traditional tools.  The fonte provides a small trough at its base, where dogs and cats may drink. 

Maria Franco Petronio Del Ponte was born in Lettomanoppello in 1950, studied sculpting at the Academies of Fine Arts in Florence, Rome and Palermo in the 1970s, and now lives and works in Pescara, teaching a course in sculpting local stone of the Maiella at the Scuola Media Statale di Vacri (CH).
Fonte Bivio Scafa - Manoppello, before (left) and after (right).  This fonte is in the lower part of Lettomanoppello, near the bivio or intersection with the road that leads to Scafa in one direction and Manoppello in the other.  The work was done by two women, Antonella Conte and Elena Marelli.  Ms. Conte was born in Anzio, province of Rome, in 1974 and studied sculpting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.  Ms. Marelli was also born in 1974 and studied sculpting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brera and also Rome.
Fonte Largo Assunta, before (left) and after (right).  This fonte is near the center of the town, on the left above Corso Vittorio Emanuele, just past the War Memorial and just before the belvedere on the right.  The work was done by Lettese sculptor Giovanni Di Pietrantonio, in collaboration with Pino Giardini of Roccamorice.  It is located in a niche where, long ago, there was a lavatoio or public laundry trough.  This fonte, restoring the flow of water to this spot, evokes the memory of the lavatoio and the old ways. 

Mr. Di Pietrantonio was born in Lettomanoppello in 1958 and he is the brother of Antonio and Angeladea Di Pietrantonio, who operate La Noce restaurant in Lettomanoppello.  He studied at Pescara and Bologna, and he lives and works in Lettomanoppello and Rome.  Currently (2001, 2002) he is also teaching at the new sculpting school in Lettomanoppello.  He has participated in numerous shows and exhibitions at a national level.
In the Santa Liberata Park is Fonte Parco Santa Liberata, before (left), after (right).  The park is a small one on the edge of the town, down via Torrione and just past the intersection with the road to Roccamorice.  The fonte was done by Pasquale Liberatore, teacher of "The Technology and Use of Marble and Stone" at the Academy of Fine Arts in Aquila.  He was assisted by two students, Verina Toppi and Andrea Berardinucci, who presumably were studying at the sculpting school in Lettomanoppello, where Mr. Liberatore perhaps was teaching a course. 

Titled "Corpo-Ambiente," "Sorella Acqua, Sorella Pietra" (Environmental Body, Sister Water, Sister Stone), the fonte is composed of scrap-rock resulting from past quarrying and cutting of stone on the mountain.  The fountain was dedicated to the German novelist Herman Hesse, who said "...the pool that skims over your shoe flows toward the sea that has for its border Africa."  

Mr. Liberatore was born at San Demetrio, Aquila in 1950.  He lives and works at Villa Sant'Angelo, Aquila.
Fonte Santa Maria, a typical example of the fonte found in the countryside and intended for watering the flocks as well as providing water for people.  This one is located in the Cerratina section of Lettomanoppello, on the mountainside above the town, in an area where there are a number of stone shepherds' huts as well as an old stone quarry.
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