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The Church of "S. Antonio Abate" (Closed to Worship)
The suburb is known as "St. Antonio to the Bridge" (S.Antonio al Ponte), because it was near a bridge of the Sangro river, at the crossing of sheep-tracks which were parallel and perpendicular to the same river. For centuries this was the stopping-place for pilgrims, merchants and shepherds, but after the Unification of Italy with the development of the roads, it quickly lessened in importance. In the parish archives of Bomba there is a note dating from 1777 where we can read that the church of Saint Antonio was built in 1526 by the baron Antonio Annecchino and by other men of this land. Considering such dates, there was probably a previous chapel and this place was in fact important in relation to the bridge over the Sangro river as the crossing of different sheep-tracks resulted in a very crowded area. The history of the church interlaces with that of the previous and following events of the Counter-Reformation. The duty to check all the goods was that of the church; without due consideration of the laws regulating economic relationships and vested rights, a lot of arguments erupted. In fact, for two centuries the Saint Antonio church was involved in a quarrel over the nomination right of the priest; this argument started between the vassals of Bomba and the Abbots Commendatory of Saint Antonio Viennese from Naples. Gradually the church lost its importance and remained derelict for so long that it became a barn. Recently it has recovered its previous dignity as a church, but it is closed to worship. Nowadays it is a room of 36 square metres, four piers support the small low calotte of the dome. Over the pendentives the symbols of the four evangelists are represented. Opposite the front door there is an empty niche where the statue of the Saint was preserved at one time. On the wall there are residual frescoes in a bad state of preservation. In the lunette we can still catch a glimpse of the picture of a Saint (perhaps St. Nicola bishop). Beside the apse there are two small but interesting panels; on the left side the Virgin Mary of the Elder, on the right side St. Rocco. On the sidewalls two altar-pieces with the images of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Antonio from Padova are visible. On the left-hand side of the altar, neither the altar-piece or the statue concern St. Antonio Abbot, to whom the church was dedicated. Beside the church there are two sheep-tracks, the first one crosses the Sangro river while the other one skirts the right side of the river. Both rejoin in the south to the "Pescasseroli-Candela" sheep-tracks and in the north to the "Aquila–Foggia" sheep-tracks near the village of Perano.
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