[6][3] In 1268 the fortified town suffered the devastation at the hands of Charles I of Anjou's army who, following the victory of the Battle of Tagliacozzo, wanted to take revenge on the hamlets whose inhabitants sided with Conradin of Hohenstaufen's Ghibellines.

[7] Thus the inhabitants scattered in Mount Salviano hamlets were forced to go down and gather at Pantano, in the square later dedicated to Saint Bartholomew near contemporary Avezzano, together with the peoples from other villages and Albe, which was also plundered by the Angevins.

According to the work Historiae Marsorum by Muzio Febonio, in 1614 there was the complete reconstruction of the religious building, which was enlarged compared to the original church,[8] as it was recorded in the subsequent affidavit for the Madonna's coronation by notary Pietro Orlandi.

[9] Oral tradition has brought a story to the present day, about a deaf-mute shepherd boy from Avezzano to whom, while pasturing the flock on Mount Salviano and gazing at the waters of Fucino, the Madonna appeared dressed in white on a mule.

The shepherd boy came down running from Mount Salviano, and as soon as he reached Avezzano went to the parish priest, whom he told what the Holy Virgin had recommended, that is, to restore the Church of Saint Mary and worthily replace the sacred image onto the altar.

The Chapel of the Apparition situated along the Via Crucis on Mount Salviano preserves the print that the Madonna's mule carved in the stone with a blow of his hoof before disappearing with the Virgin.

The Madonna is depicted standing, dressed in red with a blue coloured, star-studded mantle; she supports the Jesus Child with her right arm while keeping his feet with the palm of her left hand.

[18] The Confraternity of Most Holy Mary of Pietraquaria was established by the Bishop of Marsi Monsignor Enrico De Dominicis with an episcopal bull on 8 June 1891.

From the top of Mount Salviano the Madonna turned towards the city of Avezzano to look at the bonfires that were lit by Avezzanese people in order to draw her attention.