Cansano

File:Abruzzo Cansano.jpg

Cansano is located {{convert|9|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Sulmona, on a hill near the Valle Peligna, at {{convert|835|m|ft|abbr=on}} m above sea level.{{cite web|url=https://www.comune-italia.it/comune-cansano.html|title=Comune di Cansano|access-date=26 February 2023|language=it}} The minimum altitude of the municipality of Cansano is {{convert|599|m|ft|abbr=on}}, while the maximum is {{convert|1792|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{cite web|url=https://italia.indettaglio.it/ita/abruzzo/cansano.html|title=Comune di Cansano|access-date=26 February 2023|language=it}} The area of the municipal territory is {{convert|37.70|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}.

The town is part of an almost intact natural landscape. Part of the Maiella National Park is part of the town, and in particular, the Sant'Antonio wood and the San Leonardo pass. The position also favors travel to the most active tourist centers in the area; Campo di Giove, Pacentro, Pescocostanzo and Sulmona.

The town has a mountain climate, with hot, dry summers and cold, rainy winters. However, over time there have been variations in the climate, which is now slightly more humid in summer and less snowy in winter.

File:Cansano (AQ) - Piazza XX Settembre.JPG

Built as a fiefdom and watchtower in the early Middle Ages, it spread mainly between the 19th and 20th centuries, following the 1706 Abruzzo earthquake. In 1904, Casano became an independent municipality.{{Cite web|url=http://www.comune.cansano.aq.it/zf/index.php/storia-comune/|title=Storia di Cansano}} From 1807 to 1811, Cansano was a frazione of Introdacqua, then from that year until 1829 it was a frazione of Pacentro. It obtained municipal autonomy until 1846, when it was re-aggregated in Pacentro until 1855. Cansano become a frazione of Campo di Giove from 1855 to 1904, when it definitively regained municipal autonomy.{{Cite web|url=https://asciatopo.xoom.it/ammi_aq.html|title=Geo-storia amministrativa d'Abruzzo: provincia di Abruzzo Ulteriore II o dell'Aquila}}

File:Ocriticum04.JPG and Roman town of Ocriticum]]

Sights include:

• the Natural Archaeological Park of the Italic and Roman town of Ocriticum, with remains of two Italic/Roman temples of Jupiter and Hercules, and a sacellum of Ceres and Venus, as well as remains of the ancient settlement;
• the medieval castle, of which it is still possible to observe the structure of the tallest tower.{{cite web|url=https://www.abruzzoturismo.it/it/cansano|title=Cansano|access-date=26 February 2023|language=it}} Over the course of time, the lateral buildings of the castle have undergone numerous alterations since, no longer militarily functional since the 18th century, they have become the homes of some inhabitants of the town.
• the church of San Salvatore. The first document mentioning this religious building dates back to 1183. The church suffered serious damage following the 1706 Abruzzo earthquake, and was therefore rebuilt during the 18th century. Worthy of note, from an artistic point of view, are the baptistery dating back to the 15th century which was made of polychrome marble, a wooden organ built in the 19th century and a wooden pulpit with confessional dating back to the 18th century.

{{Historical populations

|type =

|align = center

|footnote = Istat historical data 1861–2011{{Cite web|url=http://dati.istat.it/Index.aspx|title=Statistiche I.Stat|publisher=ISTAT|access-date=28 December 2012}}

| cols = 2

| graph-pos = bottom

|1861|1233

|1871|1310

|1881|1335

|1901|1438

|1911|1834

|1921|1770

|1931|1753

|1936|1658

|1951|1556

|1961|851

|1971|545

|1981|430

|1991|357

|2001|270

|2011|282

|2021|205

}}

File:Cansano.jpg

The demographic history of Cansano is one of the most striking examples of the Italian diaspora, given that its population, starting from the first post-war period, went from just over 1,500 people to the 282 registered in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://www.goticoabruzzese.it/cansano-vecchia/|title=CANSANO VECCHIA: IL BORGO ABITATO DAGLI ALBERI|date=17 May 2017 |access-date=26 February 2023|language=it}} The emigrants from Cansano mainly went to Canada, the United States, South America and, to a lesser extent, to Australia, New Zealand and Northern Europe. The most common surnames in Cansano are, in descending order of diffusion, Ruscitti, {{nowrap|De Santis}}, {{nowrap|Di Paolo}}, {{nowrap|Di Silvio}} and {{nowrap|Di Cesare}}.

File:Centrodidocumentazione02.JPG documentation center, which also contains a permanent exhibition on the emigration of the inhabitants from Cansano]]

In Piazza XX Settembre there is the Ocriticum documentation center, inaugurated in 2004,{{Cite web|url=http://www.culturaitalia.it/opencms/opencms/system/modules/com.culturaitalia_stage.liberologico/templates/viewItem.jsp?id=oai:culturaitalia.it:museiditalia-mus_10516|title=Centro di documentazione Ocriticum}} which also contains a permanent exhibition on the emigration of the inhabitants from Cansano,{{Cite book|title=Guida storico-artistica d'Abruzzo|author=Marialuce Latini|publisher=Carsa Edizioni|year=2020|isbn=978-88-501-0389-8|page=125|language=it}} as well as ex-voto objects found in the Ocriticum archaeological park.

The cuisine of Cansano makes use of local agricultural and livestock products, such as various legumes, lamb and goat meat, pecorino cheese, smoked prosciutto{{Cite book|title=Guida d'Italia. Abruzzo, Molise|author=Touring Club Italiano|publisher=Touring Editore|year=1979|edition=4|isbn=88-365-0017-X|page=86|language=it}} and goat ricotta, and the surrounding area, such as mushrooms, mercury goosefoot and truffles.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abruzzoturismo.it/it/cansano|title=Cansano}} As for legumes, chickpeas are used as a condiment in pasta or pastora soup; other first courses are gnocchi with mutton ragout, maccheroni alla chitarra, spienaturo polenta, cooked in winter, and ravioli with ricotta. The wild vegetables of the area are used as an ingredient in recipes such as pizza and fuij, and pancotto. Among the desserts, there are sweet pizza and pizzelle.

File:Stazione Cansano.jpg

The Cansano railway station is located along the Sulmona-Isernia railway, currently in use only as a heritage railway.{{Cite web|author1=Giancarlo Scolari|author2=David Campione|url=https://www.ferrovie.it/portale/articoli/2842|title=Cala il sipario sulla Sulmona-Castel di Sangro|date=11 December 2011}} In the past, the line guaranteed regular connections with Sulmona, Isernia, L'Aquila, Rome, Pescara and Naples,{{Cite book|title=Campo di Giove. I 38 Paesi del Parco Nazionale della Majella|author=Mauro D'Amico|publisher=Multimedia Edizioni|year=1997|page=20|language=it}}{{No ISBN}} but the ordinary service was suspended on 11 December 2011.{{Cite web|url=http://www.miol.it/stagniweb/sulmona1.htm|title=Sulmona-Carpinone: come si uccide una ferrovia}}

The reopening as a heritage railway took place on 17 May 2014,{{Cite web|url=http://www.fondazionefs.it/content/fondazione/it/it/landing-page/binari-senza-tempo.html#|title=Fondazione FS Italiane: il progetto "Binari senza tempo"}} but the Cansano station, suppressed in December 2002,{{Citation|author=Attilio Di Iorio|title=La ferrovia Sulmona-Isernia|magazine=I Treni|publisher=ETR|year=2006|number=284|page=40|language=it}} had to wait until 16 July 2017 for its restoration.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ferrovie.it/portale/articoli/6533|title=Riattivata la fermata di Cansano tra Sulmona e Carpinone}} Along the same line, as of 2023, a second railway station is under construction in the municipal area of Cansano, the Ocriticum station, serving the Ocriticum archaeological park.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ferrovie.info/index.php/it/13-treni-reali/24417-ferrovie-arriva-la-nuova-fermata-ocriticum-sulla-ferrovia-dei-parchi|title=Arriva la nuova fermata Ocriticum sulla Ferrovia dei Parchi|date=16 November 2022 |access-date=16 November 2022}}

The only sports association present is the "ASD Majella United" football team, which played in regional amateur championships, born in 2018 from the merger of the previous company "ASD Cansano" with that of "ASD Campo di Giove", from the town of the same name on the slopes of the Maiella bordering Cansano.{{Cite web|url=https://www.campodigiove.org/2018/08/06/nasce-majella-united-la-nuova-squadra-di-calcio-di-campo-di-giove-e-cansano/|title=Nasce "Majella United", la nuova squadra di calcio di Campo di Giove e Cansano|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404185417/https://www.campodigiove.org/2018/08/06/nasce-majella-united-la-nuova-squadra-di-calcio-di-campo-di-giove-e-cansano/|archive-date=4 April 2022|access-date=26 February 2023|language=it}}

{{Portal|Italy}}

• Maiella National Park
• Ocriticum

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Cansano}}

• [https://www.comune.cansano.aq.it/hh/index.php Official web site]
• [https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/cansano Cansano] on Treccani.it
• [https://www.sapere.it/enciclopedia/Cansano.html Cansano] on sapere.it
• [https://www.cansanonelmondo.it/ Cansano nel mondo]

{{Province of L'Aquila}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Castles in Italy