Cocullo

Cocullo

Cocullo

Comune in Abruzzo, Italy

Cocullo is a comune and town in the Province of L'Aquila, located in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of 2013 its population was of 246.

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Geography

The village is situated in the Peligna Valley, between the towns of Avezzano and Sulmona. It is linked with them by the A25 motorway and the Rome-Pescara railway line.

It is a single civil parish (frazione), named Casale[3] and borders with the municipalities of Anversa degli Abruzzi, Bugnara, Castel di Ieri, Castelvecchio Subequo, Goriano Sicoli, Ortona dei Marsi and Prezza.

History

The origins of Cocullo are closely related to the Ancient Roman town of Koukoulon, situated between Cocullo village and Casale.[4]

Snake Festival (Feast of San Domenico)

Cocullo is known for its singular patron saint's holiday, named Festa dei Serpari, in which the patron saint's statue (Domenico di Sora) is transported in procession covered with many snakes (mainly four-lined, aesculapian, grass and green whip snakes). The reptiles themselves are transported in procession by local serpari,[5] a sort of "snake breeders", and released in the surrounding woods at the end of the holiday.[6][7] The festival, set every first of May since 2012 (in the past it took place every first Thursday in May), is a receptive event for thousands of Italian and foreign visitors. In 2009 it was cancelled due to some structural damages occurred into the village after the L'Aquila earthquake.[8] This tradition, present also in coat of arms symbolism,[9] substituted the ancient Roman mythologic ritual of Angitia, a snake goddess worshipped by the Marsi.[10]

Photogallery

Notes and references

  1. [1]
    "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. [2]
    All demographics and other statistics from the Italian statistical institute (Istat)
  3. [3]
    (in Italian) Casale webpage on municipal website Archived 2007-05-02 at archive.today
  4. [4]
    (in Italian) History of Cocullo Archived 2008-04-08 at archive.today
  5. [5]
    The word is composed by the word serpe -or serpente-, Italian for snake
  6. [6]
    (in Italian) Infos about the holiday on municipal website Archived 2012-07-28 at archive.today
  7. [7]
    Coucllo Snake Festival on www.lifeinabruzzo.com
  8. [8]
    Article on Sky News
  9. [9]
    Image of the coat of arms of Cocullo on it.wiki
  10. [10]
    A Guide to the Region Abruzzo Archived 2012-01-05 at the Wayback Machine

Media related to Cocullo at Wikimedia Commons
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