Tofo Sant'Eleuterio
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Tofo-Sant'Eleuterio' is a small village located at an elevation of 250 meters about six miles away from the commune of Teramo, the capital of the province of Teramo, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The people from this town call themselves "Tofesi".
The town is made up of two village centers: Villa Tofo e Sant'Eleuterio. The former is located on a hill from which one can see in the distance the Gran Sasso, the highest peak in the Apennine_Mountains, as well as another peak, Montagna dei Fiori. According to tradition, Villa Tofo is named after the nearby tufa rock quarries. The latter village, at a somewhat lower elevation, takes its name from its patron, Saint Eleutherius, the thirteenth pope. A church in the town is named in his honor.
About one mile from the village is the provincial road "Fonte a collina" (from the spring to the hill) which from Fiumicino (a village near San Nicolò a Tordino in the commune of Teramo leads to Sant'Onofrio in the commune of Campli. The town is adjacent to a ridge of the Fiumicino torrent, a tributary on the left bank of the Tordino river. Historical records dating back to the 1300's document the presence of Benedictine Monastary near Tofo on the banks of the Fiumicino. Few traces of this dwelling remain.
Beginning in the early 1900's, Tofo-Sant'Eleuterio entered a period of significant development. During the fascist period an elementary school, which had been housed in a private home, was constructed. A church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception was constructed during the mid 1960's. The church is by no means grandiose and was constructed in large part through the hard labor and economic support of the local citizens. Portions of the building materials were taken from the ruins of a nearby colonial bishopric tribunal dwelling. Mario Cerino, from Monticelli, (another village in the commune of Teramo), donated the land where the church now stands. Surveys, designs andgeneral contracting services were carried out under the auspices of Giovanni Di Felice. Similar efforts were undertaken by the local citizens during the construction of a sports field dedicated to 'calcetto', a form of soccer played with five or seven person teams.
In the 1960's the village began to industrialize more heavily.
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