Ortona (Abruzzese: Urtónë; Ancient Greek: Ὄρτων, romanized: Órtōn) is a coastal town and municipality of the Province of Chieti in the Italian region of Abruzzo, with some 23,000 inhabitants.
In 1943, Ortona was the site of the bloody Battle of Ortona, known as "Western Stalingrad". A patron saint of Ortona is Saint Thomas the Apostle (Tommaso), whose relics were brought to Ortona in the 13th century by a sailor and are kept in the Cathedral of Saint Thomas.
Thomas the Apostle (Greek: Θωμᾶς, romanized: Thōmâs; Classical Syriac: ܬܐܘܡܐ, romanized: Tʾōmā, meaning 'the Twin'), also known as Didymus (Greek: Δίδυμος, romanized: Dídymos 'twin'), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of Jesus when he was told of it (as is related in the Gospel of John); he later confessed his faith ("The lord of me and the God of me") on seeing the places where the wounds appeared still fresh on the holy body of Jesus after the Crucifixion of Jesus.
According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, Thomas travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, traveling through southern India in the modern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and eventually reached Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor) in 52 AD. He started the Church of the East in the region around the Van Province, Edessa, and Hakkari regions of Upper Mesopotamia (modern-day southeastern Turkey), presumably sometime between mid-late 30s and 45, and spent many years evangelizing both Jews and pagans in the area before heading further east in the late 40s. In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Ortona, in Abruzzo, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle. He is regarded as the patron saint of India among its Christian adherents, and the Feast of Saint Thomas on July 3 is celebrated as Indian Christians' Day. The name Thomas remains quite popular among the Saint Thomas Christians of the Indian subcontinent.
The Frentani were an Italic tribe occupying the tract on the southeast coast of the Italian peninsula from the Apennines to the Adriatic, and from the frontiers of Apulia to those of the Marrucini. They were bounded on the west by the Samnites, with whom they were closely connected, and from whom they were originally descended. Hence Scylax assigns the whole of this line of coast, from the frontiers of Apulia to those of Picenum, to the Samnites. Their exact limits are less clearly defined, and there is considerable discrepancy in the statements of ancient geographers: Larinum, with its territory (extending from the Tifernus (modern Biferno) to the Frento), being by some writers termed a city of the Frentani, while the more general opinion included it in Apulia, and thus made the river Tifernus the limit of the two countries. The northern boundary of the Frentani is equally uncertain; both Strabo and Ptolemy concur in fixing it at the river Sagrus (modern Sangro), while Pliny extends their limits as far as the Aternus, and, according to Mela, they possessed the mouths both of that river and the Matrinus. The latter statement is certainly inaccurate; and Strabo distinctly tells us that the Marrucini held the right bank of the Aternus down to its mouth, while the Vestini possessed the left bank; hence, the former people must have intervened between the Frentani and the mouth of the Aternus. Pliny's account is, however, nearer the truth than that of Strabo and Ptolemy; for it is certain that Ortona and Anxanum (modern Lanciano), both of which are situated considerably to the north of the Sagrus, were Frentanian cities. The latter is indeed assigned by Ptolemy to that people, while Strabo also terms Ortona the port or naval station of the Frentani, but erroneously places it to the south of the river Sagrus. Hence, their confines must have approached within a few miles of the Aternus, though without actually abutting upon that river. On the west, they were probably not separated from the Samnites by any well-marked natural boundary, but occupied the lower slopes of the Apennines as well as the hilly country extending from thence to the sea, while the more lofty and central ridges of the mountains were included in Samnium.
The Foro is a river in Italy. It is located in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of southern Italy. Its source is located in Maiella National Park near the border with the province of Pescara. The river flows northeast past Fara Filiorum Petri before flowing into the Adriatic Sea between Francavilla al Mare and Ortona.