About Abruzzo

Tagged: Villalago

Villalago 0

Mountains / Province of L'Aquila

Villalago

Villalago is the sort of place where your destination always seems to be at the top of another flight of steps. It requires energy, and it doesn’t help that I’ve clearly approached the town from the wrong end. I find myself in a residential area where the modern houses have an inscrutable, do-not-disturb look on this summer Sunday afternoon. Still, even now, even here in this quiet town in the hills of Abruzzo, getting ambushed by decibels is not out of the question. Hurtling down the empty street is a vehicle, windows open, music blaring, passengers yelling. I glimpse the occupants as the car roars past: just some teenagers...

2

Mountains / Province of L'Aquila

Scanno Lake

It happened on a winter’s night One dark and stormy night, so the legend goes, a traveller was on his way by donkey-drawn cart to Scanno. In the village of Villalago a family offered him hospitality and (I’m sure of it) a bowl of steaming pasta e fagioli. But in spite of the worsening weather he decided to press on.  Who knows, perhaps he was driven by the image of his own cosy hearth and the pale, anxious faces of his wife and small children as they awaited his return. Or maybe he was just one of those stubborn individuals who never realize when they’re on a winning streak....