|
INFO:
* Population: ca. 16,000 inhabitants
-- Zip/postal code: 80075 (Forio), 80070 (Panza) -- Phone Area Code: 081 -- patron Saint: San Vito celebrated on 15 June
-- Frazioni & Località: Cuotto, Panza
WHAT TO SEE
The tower called Torrione, built in 1480,with a ground floor used as weapons storage, and the upper floor there was the soldiers' accommodation, with a terrace provided with four cannons. 16 similar fotresses were built between 1480 and 1700, plus five more towers in the district of Panza, many of which today are mainly private houses. The Torrione has a municipal Museum on the lower floor, while the upper floor was the house of the artist Giovanni Maltese from Forio and is now an art gallery hosting his pictures and sculptures collection.
The Church of Soccorso, dedicated to "Santa Maria della neve" (Saint Mary of the snow), built on a steep promontory, which is with the Torrione the symbol of the town of Forio and one of the most original sights on the Island of Ischia. Founded as an augustinian convent in about 1350 took its present form in 1864. The churh is accessible climbing 20 steps of piperno stone, and has in front an atrium with 5 crosses also in pipernio. Its famous white facade is all decorated with 18th-century majolicas representing saints and scenes from the Passion of Christ.
The park of Villa La Mortella, originally the property of the English composer William Walton, who lived in the Villa with his wife from 1946, and hired a botanical expert from England to lay out the garden, planting wonderful tropical and Mediterranean plants, some of which have by now reached amazing proportions.
| |
Lodging in Forío d'Ischia:
|
