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In the early 1800's Valle San Giovanni (VSG) had a frazione (suburb or surrounding hamlet) called Iscarelli under its jurisdiction. In the mid 1800's Valle San Giovanni held the status of Commune. The village lost its communal status in the year 1868 when it becamoe a frazione (outlying area) of Montorio al Vomano. Thus in the early 1900's many immigrants from Valle San Giovanni listed their home of record as Montorio al Vomano. In 1929 VSG became a frazione of the communal city of Teramo where it remains today. These events are important in that individuals searching for their ancestors' birth records born before 1929 will need to go to Montorio al Vomano to obtain these documents. According to the Ninth General Census of the Population, in 1951 Valle San Giovanni had about 790 inhabitants. The soil in and around Valle San Giovanni contains extensive reserves of Lignite (which burns easily but leaves a great deal of cinders). Lesser quantities of Marcasite are also present. In 1814 during the first years of the struggle for the unification of Italy (carbonarismo), a 24 year old soldier from Valle San Giovanni, Geremia Nicolina, was sentenced to death by the occupying Napoleanic rulers. He was shot by musket fire. Valle San Giovanni sits at an elevation of 587 meters (equivalent to 1929 feet). The median elevation for the country is 337 meters. Many houses in Valle San Giovanni did not have indoor plumbing until the late 1950's and early 1960's. Construction of the first bathrooms posed somewhat of a problem as the houses tended to be rather small and lacked drainage pipes. One rather common yet innovative way of adding a bathroom involved connecting an attached room to the house, preferrably one that could be placed in an overhanging position. In this example, look closely and you will see a large drainage pipe hanging straight down from the bathroom:  (click to enlarge)
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