Spiano

The name Spiano may have derived from the fact that the town finds itself at a point from which one can spy (in Italian "spiare") on the valleys which lie below.

At the time these included land found near the city and villages of Penne, Pastori di Colledonico, Rossiano, Espano, Freniano, Colle de' Morelli, Rapina, Banio (today's Spiano to include the area of Santa Maria ad Balneum).

The historian Niccola Palma notes that farmers have come to this site for many years in order to gather the crystallized salt formations that lie within.

In the year 1711 D. Giustino Natanni founded the Beneficial Society of Saints Joseph and Antonia Abate in the RC church of Spiano.

This church is itself dedicated to Saint Mary ad Balneum and falls under the patronage of the parish of Teramo.