The first historical attestation of Pietranico is found in the "Privilegium Fundationi Ludovicis II Imp.," where it is stated: "solemniter largimur qua castella et res inferius Petram Iniquam," the grant of goods and castles in the Pietranico territory was in favor of the Abbey of San Clemente.
Its name appears again in another document from the time of Gisone, the twenty-eighth Abbot of the Casaurian Monastery, who, around the year 1113, recovered some territories of Pietranico from the Gastaldo Sansone.
In another document from the year 1114, Emperor Lothair confirms the "original donation" of the Pietranico fief to the "great Casaurian monastery." Its name appears again in an exceptional document: on the bronze doors of the Abbey of San Clemente. As is known, these were cast in the year 1191, during the abbacy of Gioele, the successor to the prestigious Leonate. While "Petra Iniqua" is read on a plaque on the left door, on the seventh, opposite the right door, the "Castrum Ripalte" of the Pietranico territory is remembered. There was no trace of it, but it probably stood in the area still known as Ripaldi and had the purpose of guarding the transhumance route from the Forca di Penne pass to Cugnoli: the Benedictine monks were very interested in transhumance and thus supervised the paths of the flocks.
His name is again found in the "Regestum Feudatariorum" of King Charles II, regarding an annual tax of 19 ounces, 7 tarì, 10 grains. The register also specifies that it is "held by Guglielmo di Letto in full."
In the year 1324, it is mentioned regarding tithes ordered by Pope John XXII from the city of Avignon; for a similar reason, it is mentioned in the "Rationes decimarum Italine" in the year 1328.
In 1457, it was granted as a fief to a prestigious Aquilan man-at-arms, Duke Pietro Lalle Camponeschi of Montorio. With specific "Capituli et Hordinationi per li massari homeni de Petranico," he regulated and modified the customary institutions of the "Università."
In 1712, Pope Benedict XIV granted prerogatives and privileges over Pietranico to the Celestine Fathers of the Abbey of S. Spirito in Sulmona because it had previously belonged to the Casaurian Abbey.
In 1806, with the abolition of feudalism decreed by Giuseppe Bonaparte, it was assigned to the province of Teramo.
In 1807, the masses led by the infamous leaders Dell'orso, Cristallini, Sacchetti, Santoro, and Masciarelli, on several occasions, committed all sorts of atrocities and mischief, causing damage and ruins; on September 14 of the same year, it was the venue for a meeting of mass leaders, including Santoro and Cristallini, who descended from their refuge in the mountains of Pescosansonesco.
In 1865, moreover, Pietranico had a National Guard with 91 militiamen, counted 53 administrative voters, and 17 political voters.
There are no explicit testimonies of its origin and its primitive aggregation. It is certain that it was a "grangia" (a medieval mountain warehouse-residence], dependent on the illustrious Abbey of San Clemente in Casauria.
An oral tradition, still alive, attributes its foundation to Abbot Adamo. Most likely, this refers to the eighth rector of the historic abbey. In his memory, a city street adjacent to Piazza del Colle bears his name: Via Abate Adamo.
Such a rugged and inaccessible site appeared to be an ideal place for the Benedictine monks to build a castle, within which they could take refuge safely during the bloody raids carried out by the Saracens and Normans coming from the nearby Puglian coast.
This climate of extreme insecurity, combined with the desire for emancipation, prompted masses of peasants oppressed by a deaf and useless feudalism to aggregate in this territory. For their part, the monks offered, along with security, more humane living conditions, new cultivation methods, livestock techniques, construction systems, not neglecting religious practices.
The ancient castle stood on the "Pietra di Castello," an immense mass of 2000 cubic meters. Hence the toponym Petra Iniqua, which, according to a reliable etymology, means "stone placed on a hill." This was the lesson given to the name by a distinguished philosopher, Don Domenico Tinozzi, who had conducted scholarly research on the "three towns of true Penne: Pietranico, Cugnoli, and Corvara."
The old town still preserves its almost intact original structure as a village built to offer less exposure to offense and greater possibilities for defense. The houses, arranged radially along the steep and short slope below the mighty rocky spur, are divided by very narrow streets and form, with sturdy walls on the outside, a belt interrupted only by the Porta della Terra.
Only the arch supported by a robust semicircular arch remains of it. The short ramp immediately after the entrance gate branches into a tangle of winding and gloomy alleys, carved at times from the rock. They all end in the tiny square adjacent to the monumental Pietra, where the portal of the original Church of Santa Maria opened.
