Valle San Giovanni is a small village of approximately 350 people located about six milesaway from the town (comune) of Teramo, the capital of the province ofTeramo, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The Adriatic Sea and the GranSasso are about 25 km away. It sits in the Tordino Valley, near thespot where two small streams, the Lete and the Fiumicello, flow intothe Tordino river.

According to some sources the town takes itsname from a powerful Teramo family with the last name "Di Valle".Others claim that the name derives from its proximity to an ancientmonastery, San Giovanni in Pergullis (Saint John amongst the Pergolae),a location surrounded by many vineyards.

Over the years, thehistory of Valle San Giovanni has been closely linked with twoneighboring communities, Frunti a feudal holding of the "De Frunto"family, and Teramo with whom there existed an enduring reciprocalalliance. At one point Teramo briefly annexed Frunti leading to renewedefforts by it inhabitants to break these feudal ties and traditions. In1338 the townspeople declared their independence from Teramo, therebyreaffirming their autonomous civil liberties. This arrangement lasteduntil 1457 when Frunti became part of the county Montorio al Vomano. In1668 Frunti passed into the hands of the Count Crescenzio DeCrescentiis. In the beginning of the 1700s Frunti became aligned withneighboring Valle San Giovanni, which at that time was becomingincreasingly developed due to having annexed the surrounding church andvineyards of San Giovanni in Pergulis and to serving as a sheep herdingway station. This great migration of sheep from Abruzzo to Puglia andLazio was known as the transumanza. Valle San Giovanni sits on one suchtrail known as the San Quirico.

In the 1500 and 1600s, Valle SanGiovanni witnessed a number of brigand skirmishes, these arising fromstruggles over control of the surrounding forest areas. At least a fewof these brigands were themselves local townsfolk.

In the midstof these ongoing struggles, San Giovanni in Pergulis, the monastery onthe outskirts of Valle San Giovanni, experienced a rapid andirreversible decline. In 1561 Pope Paul IV deeded these holdings, alongwith the remains of the old convent, to the collegiate church ofMontorio al Vomano with the understanding that they would be restored.Unfortunately, this was not to be and further deterioration ensued. In1775 the church authorities of Montorio al Vomano ceded San Giovanni inPergulis and all of its associated religious functions, to the mainchurch of Valle San Giovanni, Madonna della Neve. The latter sits inthe center of Valle San Giovanni, and takes its name, Madonna dellaNeve (Our Lady of Snow), from a legend in which a church was to beerected on the spot where a summer snowfall was to occur. Madonna dellaNeve is known for its frescoes dating back to 1458 and for thereligious festival held the first weekend in August of each year whichserves to commemorate its founding.

In 1603 the MarquisBaltassarre Caracciolo, had three of these brigands executed in aneffort to put an end once and for all to the ongoing rivalries arisingat that time. In 1682, two groups of brigands again foughtacrimoniously for control of the land surrounding Valle San Giovanni.One such battle lasted six days and came to an end only when soldiersfrom Teramo were summoned to put an end to the conflict. Just one yearlater, in 1683, the town was sacked and almost completely destroyed byDon Alfonso di Villaparte in an attempt to capture the famous brigand,Santuccio Di Froscia, who for years had been terrorizing thecountryside.

In 1799 a group of soldiers from Valle SanGiovanni, under the leadership of the brigand leader, Vincenzo Rolli,fought valiantly against the French occupying forces. In 1809 theFrench Napoleonic forces, who would rule for ten years under theKingdom of Naples, chose Valle San Giovanni as the center of vastcommunal territory which included the ex feudal states of Frunti, VallePiola, Abetemozzo, Borgonovo e Poggio Rattieri.

In the firsthalf of the 1800s, coal deposits were discovered and mined very nearthe town. From the early 1900s onward, many of the citizens of ValleSan Giovanni emigrated to New Jersey, Montreal, and elsewhere. A goodnumber settled in Penns Grove.  This served to further impoverish the small village and greatly reduced its population.

In 1868 the town (comune) of Cortino was administratively established and Valle San Giovanni came under thejurisdiction of Montorio al Vomano. In 1929 Valle San Giovanniseparated from Montorio al Vomano and became a suburb (frazione) ofTeramo.

According to local sources and histories, during theSecond World War the grottoes located immediately above Valle SanGiovanni served as places of refuge for the Italian partisans thenbattling the German forces.

Located off of the main piazza, Largo della Chiesa, is Via del Casale. The residents of Valle San Giovanni call themselves "Vallaroli".

Adjacent to Valle San Giovanni are the nearby towns of Frondarola, Travazzano and Valle Soprana. 

Visitors to Valle San Giovanni can stay at a guesthouse called Casale.