Rocca Calascio
Beside a turn in the zig-zag road to Rocca Calascio, some thoughtful person has organized the ideal picnic spot. Under a bower of ivy and spring flowers is a table and benches, just waiting to be used. Only we don’t have a picnic.
Déjeuner sur L’herbe
Never mind, in the borgo of Calascio we find a bar where the owner does a line in sardonic wit (free) and sandwiches (reasonably priced). We take our sandwiches out to a grassy promontory. Though the sun is shining, the breeze from the Gran Sasso carries a memory of snow. We are at 1400 metres above sea level and the world is at our feet.
Having finished our lunch and brushed off the crumbs, we set off on the 3km hike to the actual Rocca but we are not yet out of the higher part of the borgo when we come across a cosy-looking trattoria. This rankles just a little, for though there was nothing wrong with our sandwiches we are assailed by an aroma that promises more than just a cheese roll. Today’s special is on the menu board: fettuccine and asparagus. Dammit.
There’s little to do except order coffee, which we take at the bar while chatting to Canadian tourists who have just enjoyed the fettuccine and look like cats that got the cream. We wish them happy travels and set off again, forgetting to pay for our coffee.
A Tale of Two Villages
Calascio has about 120 inhabitants; instead the mediaeval borgo of Rocca Calascio, situated 200m above and nestling just under the castle itself, has even fewer. The higher village was mostly destroyed during the 1703 earthquake in L’Aquila and since then has endured a slow agony of abandonment. Recently, some restoration work has been done to accommodate tourists. Hopefully permanent residents will follow.
How many Roccas are there in Abruzzo I wonder as I climb. The name can mean castle or fort and it seems that, for protection in violent and unpredictable times, every mediaeval hill town in these parts needed one. The name can be extended to include the habitat around the castle. Many times I have heard people abbreviating the names of their home towns to ‘la Rocca’.
But Rocca Calascio is so well known that it has become a symbol of the Abruzzi hinterland, just as the trabocchi symbolize the coast. It is one of the most photographed spots in the region and is also a film star, having featured in at least four films, including Ladyhawke.
The twelfth century Rocca is also one of the highest in Italy, and is included in the National Geographic’s top 15 castles in the world. It is set in the spectacular Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga.
Part of Rocca Calascio’s charm is undoubtedly the adjacent iconic church of Santa Maria della Pietà, built by the villagers around the beginning of the seventeenth century, probably in gratitude to the Madonna for saving them from brigands.
The Medici in Abruzzo
As we pick our way from the castle ruins to the church over the uneven, tufty grass, I think of sheep and Florence. This area was important to the flourishing wool industry in my home city during the rule of the Medici. Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, took control of nearby Santo Stefano di Sessanio for the production of ‘carfagna‘, a soft, dark wool used for military uniforms and clerical garments.
The wool was processed in Florence and exported all over Europe. In other words, the sheep from this area contributed to the fortune of the Medici and to the wealth of the city of Florence.
And it is just at this moment in my reflections that I remember the unpaid coffee in the trattoria, so we leave the Rocca and hurry back to the village to pay our debts.
All you need to know
Many roads lead to Rocca Calascio. From Santo Stefano di Sessanio take Strada Provinciale 7. From Campo Imperatore, first Strada Provinciale 17bis and then SP7.
From Rome or Milan, take the motorway to L’Aquila, exit L’Aquila Est and take SS17 as far as Barisciano (about 18km), and then head towards Santo Stefano di Sessanio.
From Pescara, A25 and exit at Bussi sul Tirino, direction L’Aquila. Head to Capestrano, and turn right for Ofena (16km); after 1.5km turn left and head to Calascio.
Leave your car in the carpark in Calascio and follow the easy path up to the Rocca.
Parking is free.
