About Abruzzo

Category: The Coast

Popoli 0

Mountains / Province of Pescara

Picturesque Popoli

Bears and other perils Just outside Popoli we pass a quaint road sign alerting us to the possibility of bears crossing. Having once had a near miss with a deer on the motorway, and risked a collision with a kangaroo in the Australian outback, I shouldn’t be complacent. But somehow the idea that a bear might amble out of the woods to cross the road strikes me as comical. And yet. We are on the border between the two great national parks of Abruzzo, the Majella and the Gran Sasso, the habitat of about 50 members of the orso marsicano species. Sightings are rare but in certain periods, or...

cloister of Atri cathedral 1

Province of Teramo / The Coast

Atri, home of black gold

Never imagine that hill towns in Abruzzo are all the same. That once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. Nothing is further from the truth. There are borghi that meander crookedly along the crest of a hill, others that sit boldly astride it like a layered wedding cake. And others still that seem to defy gravity, clinging to the mountainside and looking, from a distance and especially after a snowfall, like a carefully assembled nativity scene. Aside from topographical differences, each place has its own story to tell, its own treasure-trove of artistic and cultural gems. And none more so than Atri in the province of Teramo. Atri...

città sant'angelo 0

Province of Pescara / The Coast

Città Sant’Angelo

City of Angels, Mojito, and the Bones of Wild Beasts In Città Sant’Angelo one might hope to see angels. Or even saints. What I wasn’t expecting was an elephant’s tusk. Strange Beasts But here it is in full view in the little Civic Museum.  Though broken in two places, it lies protected in its special glass casket against a backdrop of an artist’s impression of its owner roaming the wilds. The kind young man who is pleased to welcome visitors to the museum tells me it was found in 1977 when the motorway was being built. But how did it get here?  I want to know. According to our...

Trabocco at sunset 3

Province of Chieti / The Coast

Wonders of the Trabocchi Coast

My Trabocchi Coast Itinerary …in which we reflect on a dark period in Abruzzo’s history but then experience the lightness of being with a refreshing swim and lunch, restore body and soul at one of the region’s most stunning sacred sites, and end up at a nudist beach, but with our costumes and modesty intact. Here is our typical itinerary, highlighting five wonders of the Trabocchi Coast. Moro River Canadian War Cemetery Yes, I know the Canadian War Cemetery is not right on the coast. Neither is it a typical highlight on a day trip to the seaside. But our road from the north brings us here and there...

Santo Spirito Hermitage 1

Mountains / Province of Pescara

The Hermitage of Santo Spirito

It’s ten kilometres to the Hermitage of Santo Spirito from Roccamorice.  The road takes us from the airy green foothills of the Maiella and plunges us deep under the leafy archways of an oak and beech forest.  Sunlight filters through the upper branches and spangles the road as we drive along.  The road ends in an open space and there, backed onto a rocky outcrop, is the Hermitage. Oh for the contemplative life. No wonder the poet Petrarca mentioned this place in his De Vita Solitaria as being conducive to asceticism. Even the most arid soul must surely be nourished by such beauty and silence  – silence, that is,...

cemetery 3

Province of Chieti / The Coast

The Canadian War Cemetery

A Grave Encounter I am fascinated by graveyards.  When I worked in an office in Edinburgh I used to eat my lunch in one.  In general they are peaceful, green places full of birdsong and rich in stories. And some headstones are small works of art. This interest of mine does not always go down well with Italians, who have a different perception of cemeteries. I found this out the hard way when, while poking around a graveyard on a trip to Scotland with Italian friends, I sat down on a bench and produced our picnic lunch. I can still recall the shock on their faces. War cemeteries have,...

silvi paese with outdoor tables 2

Province of Teramo / The Coast

A Tale of Two Silvi Part 2

Something is up. As we approach Silvi Paese late on a summer’s evening we can’t find a place to park. We drive upwards and down and roundabout and eventually squeeze into a slot half-way up the hill. Could it be, someone suggests, the Festa di Paese? Light streams from the open doors of the Church of San Salvatore but this is not unusual. On summer nights anyone can wander in from the street at any time to pray or just quietly sit.  As we near the Belvedere, it becomes clear there is an invasion afoot. What is curious is that the invaders of this normally rather staid village are...

Silvi Paese, house with sea beyond 2

Province of Teramo / The Coast

A Tale of Two Silvi, Part 1

There are some towns in Italy that I think of as having two souls. Like Silvi, for instance. Down at the shore is the high-spirited, slightly brash extrovert; overlooking it from the hill above its more reserved other half. This is a tale of two Silvi. Silvi Marina It is surprising how many Italians I have met from other regions who are familiar with Silvi Marina from their childhood. This is probably because its many attributes read like an advertisement for family holidays: reasonably priced accommodation, a summer programme of concerts and events, a plethora of restaurants and gelaterie, and a safe, sandy beach (one of the ‘seven sisters...

Montesilvano Colle from below 0

Province of Pescara / The Coast

Montesilvano Colle

and a tale of Scottish soldiers Long before the town spilled down the hillside and onto the coastal plain, there was Montesilvano Colle, or ‘Lu Colle’ (the hill) for short. At that time Montesilvano meant what it said: wooded hill. It was then a drowsy hamlet, nestling among thick pine woods that crept all the way down to the sea. Now on the plain the trees have been replaced by a forest of apartment buildings which continue to reproduce at a terrifying rate. ‘Colle’, though, relatively untouched by the building boom of the sixties and the 2000s, maintains the easy-going charm of a country borgo. It is most pleasant to...

bike path with sea on left and bike in forefront 5

Province of Chieti / The Coast

The Trabocchi Coast, where Biking is Bliss

Let’s go for a spin “When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Why, I begin to wonder, as we heave our bikes onto the car roof, nipping our fingers in the process, is ‘going for a spin’ on the Adriatic Cycle Route beginning to seem like a major enterprise?  And why do I feel anxious?  Somewhere I have read that the Ciclovia Adriatica will end up being the longest...