By the eighteenth century Penne - firmly under the control of church, aristocracy, and Spain - was becoming wealthy again. A major programme of town restoration began. The now delapidated and old fashioned mediaeval churches were stripped of their naive paintings and redecorated in baroque style. The original buildings were mostly left intact, but new baroque facades were added.
An architect from Naples, Francesco de Seo, was brought in to redesign the entrance to the town: the main gate, and the Palazzo Castiglione (now a cafe) were his work, as well as the facade of the church of the Annunziata (above).
Architects and plasterers from Lombardy were fetched to redesign the interiors of churches and aristocratic houses. And local technicians learnt with them. Penne architect Aniello Francia designed one of the few completely new baroque churches (Madonna del Carmine, on the road to the lake). The Abruzzese sculptor Loreto de Cicco worked on the new, Neapoletan-style redesign of the Aliprandi family palace.
The Roman springs were rediscovered by chance in 1827, and the elegant circular fountain built around them by a local engineer, Federico Dottorelli
In 1731 the last heir to the Farnese state died, leaving the state (including Penne) to the Bourbon rulers of Spain. But on becoming king of Spain in 1759 Charles III renounced the kingdom of Naples and Sicily. Spain no longer ruled Abruzzo; Charles' 8 year old son Ferdinand become ruler of a separate Bourbon kingdom of Naples. But Abruzzo was still trapped in an oppressive, feudal system.
The children of the rich families who had built the new baroque palaces in Penne became caught up in the mood of the Enlightenment - science and reason would solve the problems of the world, if only they had the freedom to use them. The Bourbons responded by increased censorship of books, increasing the power of the church; even wearing long hair became an offence. The liberal intellectuals of Penne reacted by joining a revolutionary secret society, the Carbonari, modelled on the Masons. They caught a brief glimpse of the possible new world after the defeat of Naples by Napoleon: compulsory primary education, closure of some of the most oppressive religious orders, modernization of the administration. When Napoleon was ousted and the Bourbons returned to power in 1814 the Carbonari of Penne rioted, to no avail. The following years brought still more suppression.
In 1837, inspired by Mazzini's call for the young and the educated to rise up for freedom against despotism, the population of Penne did just that. Led by the town notary and a group of young barons and marquises - including the young marquis of the house of Aliprandi - they disarmed the local guards and instituted a provisional government. Then they waited for the rest of Abruzzo to rally to their example. No-one did; after 2 days, the government sent in the army and carried 102 Pennesi off to Teramo in chains for trial. 8 were executed, the rest imprisoned or exiled. The names of the executed can be seen on the monument in the Square of the Martyrs.
In punishment Penne was demoted as area capital, only to be restored in 1848. And in 1861, Penne became part of a newly united Italy; the Bourbons were no more.
Previous: Farnese Penne