The Church of the Madonna dell'Arco is located at the foot of Civitaretenga in the gorge where the main road linking L'Aquila to Popoli once passed through, as it does today: here stood a tavern for travellers' refreshment, where, according to tradition, in 1599 a Neapolitan painter, finding shelter there, painted an effigy of the Madonna on a wall in the annexed stable, after dreaming of her in the night, under an arch. The versions handed down differ on some points, but agree on the miraculousness of the oil from a lamp that, placed in front of the painting, burned on its own, performing numerous other miracles: this is why it was decided in 1698 to turn the stable into a church.

The feast of Our Lady of the Arc is celebrated on the Sunday after 8 September, on the day of the Holy Name of Mary, and culminates after midnight with the so-called 'tiro dello squadro' (shooting of the plough). All young people who have reached the age of 19 climb onto the tractor and with the mechanical plough - which has replaced the hand plough in the ritual - they write on the fields west of Civitaretenga 'Viva Maria SS' with the year they belong to.

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