Exploring my maternal grandparents Abruzzese heritage and enjoying the rest of Italy along the way.
In May, we visited the Italian region of Molise, which you find sandwiched between northern Puglia and southern Abruzzo.We arrived in Molise from Caserta, in Campania, without any booked accommodation and free of an itinerary. You can do that in May in many of the less-visited parts of Italy.One thing we did pre-arrange was a... Continue Reading →
In Part 2 of my post on 'Visiting Abruzzo's Teramo Province' I want to show you a few more towns and the City of Teramo, which is the capitol of the province. These are not as close to the sea as the places in Part 1; instead, they are mostly elevated on the various hills... Continue Reading →
This post is part 1 of 2 posts regarding the Abruzzo's Teramo Province. It concentrates on a few towns that are either directly on the Adriatic Sea coast of Abruzzo, or within view of the coast. Abruzzo is a central-south region of Italy, shown in red on the small map of Italy below. Along with... Continue Reading →
Arriving in Scanno is a feat with its torturous winding roads, one-way tunnels, and breathtaking scenery. Once there, you have to navigate skinny roads that climb upwards (and hope no one is coming at you) to find a narrow parking spot. But it's all worth it when you step out and breathe the mountain air. Scanno is a... Continue Reading →
Those of you familiar with the central Adriatic coast of Italy, from southern Abruzzo to northern Puglia, might know about the unusual-looking trabocchi (the plural of trabocco). They are spidery-looking wooden fishing houses at the end of a long plank, off rocky areas of the coast. Nets are suspended from the long arms to hopefully... Continue Reading →
On a dark and very rainy day in 2013, I first visited Pacentro, a medieval village perched at 690 meters above sea level on the side of Monte Morrone, near Sulmona. Lucky to be in Sulmona again in this year, I decided to see nearby Pacentro in the sunshine. I thought, "I'll rent a bike for... Continue Reading →
Abruzzo's most populous city, Pescara, has a reputation as a brash new city, however its history pre-dates the Roman Empire. The Lombards, Spaniards, Turks and French have all attacked or ruled over the centuries. As a key Adriatic port city, much of the old medieval centre was bombed and destroyed during WWII. It has the appearance of... Continue Reading →
