PESCARA, a river of Italy, formed by the confluence of the Gizio and Aterno, and flowing into the Adriatic at the small town of Pescara. This town occupies the site of the ancient Aternum, the terminus of the Via Claudia Valeria, and up to 1867 a fortress of some importance. The railway from Sulmona follows the Pescara valley and joins the coast line to Brindisi at Pescara. In this valley, 22 m. from the sea, was the site of the ancient Interpromium, a town belonging probably to the Paeligni; and not far off is the very fine Cistercian abbey church of S. Clemente di Casauria, founded by the emperor Louis II. in 871. The present building belongs to the 12th century. The sculptures of the portals, the pulpit, the Paschal candelabrum, &c., and the bronze doors of this period are important. The chronicle of the abbey, of the end of the 12th century, is in the Bibliothèque nationale at Paris.
See V. Bindi, Monumenti degli Abruzzi (Naples, 1889), pp. 405 sqq.; P. L. Calore in Archivio storico dell' arte (Rome, 1891), iv. 9 sqq.