In 1026, Dominic of Sora established the monastery of San Pietro Avellano, at the instigation of Count Oderisio Borello, and a village began to form nearby. In 1069, the monastery was ceded to
Monte Cassino. The abbots fortified the village to stop its plundering by local counts. The abbey at San Pietro Avellano was abandoned after a devastating earthquake in 1441, but the village remained an ecclesiastical dependency of Monte Cassino until 1785. The municipality of San Pietro Avellana contains the
frazione (subdivision) Masserie di Cristo. San Pietro Avellana borders municipalities
Ateleta,
Capracotta,
Castel del Giudice,
Castel di Sangro,
Roccaraso and
Vastogirardi. Many descendants of the original San Pietro Avellana, a village with a population well over 2,000, live in the
Cleveland,
Pittsburgh, and
Youngstown areas in the United States. They have spread out all across the globe, from
Rock Springs, Wyoming, to
Argentina, to northern
New Jersey, and back to northern
Italy's Industrial Triangle. In 1906 a new shrine to Saint Amico was constructed through donations from former residents who had emigrated from San Pietro Avellano. ==Saint Amico==