About Abruzzo

Category: Mountains

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...

Fontana Luminosa 6

Mountains / Province of L'Aquila

L’Aquila: The Fighter Still Remains

Sometimes life delivers its own soundtrack. As we drive into L’Aquila, Paul Simon is singing about a boxer that… …carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame, “I am leaving, I am leaving” but the fighter still remains. L’Aquila still carries reminders of that terrible night of 6 April, 2009. Brokenness is all around. Alongside many a gleaming new building stands the carcass of its formal self, roof sagging, windows gaping, the whole crumbling edifice held together by metal and wood scaffolding to prevent further collapse. This is our first visit since the earthquake....

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Mountains / Province of L'Aquila

The Magical Bosco di Sant’Antonio

Tell me, what comes to mind when you think of a wood? Well, trees of course. All woods have trees. And? More trees. What kind of trees? That would depend on the kind of wood. Birch, beech, pine… What about Saint Anthony’s Wood? Ah. Il Bosco di Sant’Antonio. There are trees there too, mostly beech. But they’re not just any trees. No? Oh no. They are fantastical creatures straight from the pages of a storybook. Some are multi-limbed mythological sea creatures, and others are funny, friendly giants. There are straight and solemn pillars of trees whose topmost leafy branches arch and touch to form a cathedral roof, whose leaves...

Le Conche, Festa of St. Bartholomew, Roccamorice 5

Mountains / Province of Pescara

Roccamorice, Prince Charming and a Grisly Martrydom

Believe you me, persuasive salespeople can be trouble. Take restaurants for instance. All it takes is an eloquent waiter to sweet-talk me down the slippery slope of the pudding menu. And that’s what happens in Roccamorice.  Only this time it is not a restaurant but a shop – a ‘shoe boutique’, as it happens, and the only store open on the main street, now baking in the August sun. It has just opened for afternoon trade and we duck under the awning with the excuse of admiring the colourful array of trekking shoes in the outdoor display. Out comes the owner, who just happens to be charming and good-looking....

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Mountains / Province of Teramo

Civitella del Tronto

Saved for a rainy day We are driving on a country road, peering through rain-splattered windows, when someone remarks, predictably, that it would all look so much better if the sun were shining. It could be Scotland We are in the province of Teramo, heading for Civitella del Tronto, and the morning that started out dull and unpromising has become wild and wet. But even on this rain-swept day the landscape has its own beauty: the patchwork fields fringed by woodland, the mist ribboning the mountains in the distance.  There’s not a soul about – only a few sheep that pause in their munching and raise their sodden heads...