Biblioteca dell'Archivio di Stato dell'Aquila - Sezione Staccata di Sulmona

The Sulmona section of the State Archive of L'Aquila preserves documents from the Peligna valley, including civic records from 1276, notarial deeds and family papers. Since 2010 it has occupied the former San Pasquale prison, itself converted from an Observant Franciscan convent.

Why it matters

The archive preserves Sulmona's civic records from 1276 onward, notarial documents from 1479 to 1892 and records of the Casa Santa dell'Annunziata from 1245 to 1985. Family collections include the Mazzara papers, alongside judicial and administrative records from the modern period. Together these holdings document the institutions and families of the Peligna valley.

What to notice

The archive's fonds cover the city and its surrounding communities. The civic archive preserves the medieval commune; notarial deeds record contracts, dowries and disputes across four centuries; and the Casa Santa dell'Annunziata fonds document the history of Sulmona's charitable institution. Cartographic series accompany civic, notarial and judicial records.

Context and history

State archiving in Abruzzo descends from Joachim Murat's decree of 22 October 1812, which ordered a provincial archive in each Intendency of the Kingdom of Naples. The L'Aquila institution took shape from 1835 and became a State Archive in 1963. Sulmona began as a sub-section by ministerial decree of 30 June 1960 and became a full section on 22 March 1965. It opened in 1962 in Palazzo della Santissima Annunziata, moved to a smaller palazzo on Via San Cosimo in 1988 and settled in 2010 in the former San Pasquale prison, once the convent of San Nicola dell'Osservanza.