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  •  In 1858 the government published a collection of laws that that had previously been in force when southen Italy fell under the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.  One of these was a Valle San Giovanni emphyteutic lease (a real estate contract specifying the lessee must improve the property, usually public lands with construction) involving Giansante di Giansante from Valle San Giovanni.
  • On 1 May 1816, during the time of the reform of the Borbon leaders, Valle San Giovanni became a communal capital.  Frazioni (municipalities) under the jurisdiction of Valle San Giovanni included Abatemozzo, Iscarelli (see also 1850's documents), Faieto, Casanova, Poggio Rattieri, Borgonovo, Magliano, Poggio Valle and Valle Piola.
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  •   The citizens of Valle San Giovanni, immediately following the 1868 decision to downgrade the town from an independent commune to a municipality of the comune of Montorio al Vomano, petitioned to have this statute overturned.  Their pleas were denied.
  • Secondary to the "Leggi ed Atti del Regno d'Italia" (Laws and Acts of the Kingdom of Italy) promologated in the year 1868 Valle San Giovanni on 6 December 1868 lost its communal status.  It then became a frazione  of Montorio al Vomano.  
    This explains why, in the early 1900's many immigrants from Valle San Giovanni listed their home of record as Montorio al Vomano.  In 1929 VSG became a frazione of the communal city of Teramo where it remains today.  These events are important in that individuals searching for their ancestors' birth records born before 1929 will need to go to Montorio al Vomano to obtain birth, marriage and other related documents.
  • According to the Istorica Descrizione del Regno di Napoli, VSG in 1795 had a popluation of 333.  It was also noted as having "fresh air".   
  • According to a census published by the Regno delle Due Sicilie VSG in 1835 had a population of 681.
  •   According to a document known as the Amminstrativa, G
    iudizaria, Elettorale e Diocesana Dizionario dei Comuni (Administrative, Electoral and Diocese Dictionary of Communes) published by the Italian Ministry of the Interior in 1867, VSG in 1861-2 had a population of exactly 2,000.  
  • According to the Dizionario Topografico dei Comuni d'Italia, VSG in 1908 had a population of 1460. 
  • According to the Ninth General Census of the Population VSG in 1951 had 790 inhabitants.
  • Valle San Giovanni is mentioned several times in  Toponomastica Italiana (Ulrico Hoepli,1990).  The book traces the origins and history of placenames attributed to certain areas.  Located in and around Valle San Giovanni are: Pera Tosta (Latin=tostu, It=tosto "hard"); Valzi di Frunti (Latin=Balteum, It=balzo "mountain/hill"); Valle Cintrella (Latin=cinctum, It=cintura "belt"); Marcaccione (It=marca "border/zone of demarcation"); La Malanotte (Latin=malu, It=male "bad/evil" and notte "night"); Casa Monda (Latin=mundu "clean/free of vegetation"). 
     
  • In 1814 during the first years of the struggle for the unification of Italy (carbonarismo), a 24 year old soldier from Valle San Giovanni, Geremia Nicolina, was sentenced to death by the occupying Napoleanic rulers.  He was shot by musket fire.
  • The Archivio Botanico e Biogeografico Italiano, Volumes 42-43 (Università di Modena, Istituto Botanico, 1966) tells us that near VSG there lives the parasitic plant Loranthus Europaeus, a member of the mistletoe family.   
  • Most houses in Valle San Giovanni didn't have indoor plumbing until the late 1950's or early 1960's.  Construction of the first bathrooms posed a problem as the houses tended to be small and lacked drainage pipes.  One common yet innovative way of adding a bathroom involved connecting an attached room to the house, preferrably one that could be placed in an overhanging position.  Look closely and your will see a large drainage pipe hanging straight down from the bathroom:    (click to enlarge)       
  • According to one local historical source: 

    "In epoca romana nelle immediate vicinanze dell'attuale Valle San Giovanni passava l'Interamnium Vorsus, il tratto cioè della via Cecilia che, proveniente da Amiternum, all'altezza dell'attuale Montorio deviava verso Interamnia e Castrum Novum, raggiungeva Travazzano, Santa Maria di Ponte a Porto e raggiungeva il mare seguendo il corso del fiume Tordino. Proprio a Valle infatti, in località "Cavonetto", nel 1993 fu rinvenuto il Cippo miliario "CXIIII" insieme a un tratto dell'antica strada.  ....(e' possibile) camminare a Valle sull'antico percorso dei ROMANI"      TRANSLATION:  In the times of the empire a Roman road originated in Amiternum near L'Aquila, crossed a pass near the Gran Sasso, and arrived at Montorio al Vomano where it changed course towards Valle San Giovanni along what is now known as Via Cecilia.  From here the road arrived at Travazzano, crossed a small bridge where now stands an ancient church known as Santa Maria di Ponte a Porto, and snaked along the Tordino River in the direction of Teramo and the Adriatic Sea.   In 1933 a milestone with the inscription " CXIIII" was discovered in Valle San Giovanni in a location known as "Cavonetto".  With some effort it is still possible to follow in the path of this Roman antiquity.