PESCARA  , a

river of Italy, formed by the confluence of the Gizio and''Aterno, and flowing into the Adriatic at the small town of Pescara . This town occupies the site of the ancient Aternum, the terminus of the Via Claudia Valeria, and up to 1867 a fortress of some importance . The railway from Sulmona follows the Pescara valley and joins the coast line to Brindisi at Pescara . In this valley, 22 M. from the sea, was the site of the ancient Interpromium, a town belonging probably to the Paeligni; and not far off is the very fine Cistercian abbey church of S . Clemente di Casauria, founded by the emperor Louis II. in 871 . The present building belongs to the 12th century . The sculptures of the portals, the pulpit, the Paschal candelabrum, &c., and the bronze doors of this period are important . The chronicle of the abbey, of the end of the 12th century, is in the Bibliotheque nationale at Paris . See V . Hindi, Monumenti degli Abruzzi (Naples, 1889), pp . 405 sqq.; P . L .

Calore in Archivio storico dell'

ark (Rome, 1891), iv . 9 sqq .