About Abruzzo

Tagged: hermitage

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,...

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....