Tower Acquaviva

Address: Piazza Capuani (Mother Church churchyard) - Mosciano S. Angelo

The TOWER ACQUAVIVA (1397), on the left side of the facade of the Mother Church, built entirely of brick, has a square base, 6 meters wide and 28 high. The edges are reinforced with blocks of stone up to almost half the height and the top is crowned by four sets of four Ghibelline fashioned battlements.

Its construction, which took place after that of the walls, completed the whole defensive system, which previously lacked adequate means of far observation and extreme defense.

The tower in fact, had in the past a series of secret tunnels. Of these the best known is the one that linked it to the parish house, accessible until a few decades ago.

From above, it offers an enchanting view from the Adriatic to the Gran Sasso, from Atri, Castellalto up the valleys of the Salinello and Vibrata rivers, dotted with a magnificent crown of charming towns and villages.

At about six feet above the ground, on the east side of the tower, is fixed a stone bas-relief, which bears carved symbolic figures in three overlapping sectors.

The upper section is dominated by the figure of St. Michael, with his wings spread in all their magnitude, in the act of protection of the country to which he gave the name as well as to the Church; the body of the angel rests on a Doric capital in three rows of spirals; in the middle part it is possible to note a dragon, symbol of prudence in the Acquaviva family, closely associated with strength, represented, at the bottom, by the figure of a rampant lion crowned with the arms of the family.

According to the historian Antinori, the rampant lion, with the coat of arms in the center, would be that of the family Cantelmi, related to the Acquaviva; the other one (left of the observer) representing a shield crossed by a horizontal band with decorative tiles throughout the periphery, would belong to the family crest Tomacelli with Andrea Matteo, Duke of Atri (which was erected in honor of the tower itself) married to Catherine, nephew of Pope Boniface IX; the third coat of arms, a diagonal band with three rows of dowels divided in the form of a chessboard, was the emblem of S. Severini (because of Jacoba, grandmother of  the same Andrea Matteo).

The Archangel holds in each hand, along its sides, two parchments in which are carved the following inscriptions in old Lombard:

On the left parchment is written:

IN THE YEAR MCCCXCVII
FOR DIVINE MERCY OF THE DOMINANT BONIFACIO IX
UNDER THE REIGN OF KING LADISLAO
KING OF JERUSALEM, SICILY AND HUNGARY
AND THE LIVING HEAVENLY MAN
ANDREA MATTEO OF ACQUAVIVA  DUKE OF ATRI
AND COUNT OF SAN FLAVIANO

On the right parchment is written:

DID THIS BUILDING TOWER
FRA MATTEO ANGELO FROM MORRO
OF THE ORDER OF SAINT BENEDICT
IN CHARGE IN THE ABOVE TIME
OF THIS CHURCH OF SANT'ANGELO
IN MUSANO

After the enlargement of the church, the tower built about two feet away, was merged with it and adapted as a bell tower with open arched windows beneath the balcony.

On an unspecified date, probably in the early seventeenth century, inside the tower was placed the mechanical clock, which still exists today.

(from the books: Mosciano Ieri-Oggi di Gaetano Zenobi, Edizioni C.E.T.I.  Teramo e  Mosciano Sant’Angelo Immagini e Ricorsi di Tonino Di Matteo , Editoriale ECO srl).