About Abruzzo

Category: Province of L’Aquila

Sulmona 2

Mountains / Province of L'Aquila

Sulmona

City of Romance and Confetti Most girls, when they get engaged, receive a ring. I got a bunch of confetti. But then on that fateful day I was in Sulmona, which is to confetti and weddings as Scotland is to whisky and ceilidhs. Confetti and coriandoli Let’s get one thing straight. By confetti, I don’t mean paper hearts and horseshoes or the harvest of the office shredding machine. Here, those tiny paper cut-outs are called coriandoli and are likely to get in your hair during Carnival. Italian style confetti are coated almonds. When I explain this to a friend, she looks aghast and says, nice, but don’t they hurt? ...

Interior of Chapel of San Pellegrino 0

Mountains / Province of L'Aquila

The Sistine Chapel of Abruzzo

The Oratory of San Pellegrino at Bominaco A good rule to follow in Italy, I have found, is never judge a building by its cover. So I am not particularly put out that the Sistine Chapel of Abruzzo looks no bigger than a bungalow from the outside. Luckily there is a porch, which is where we take shelter from the August sun.  We have to wait our turn here as only a few people are allowed in with the guide at a time. While we wait, I check out our surroundings.  Opposite is a rugged hill topped by a cylindrical tower from where I assume the views over the...

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...