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Abruzzo a wonderful gem in the Center of Italy


Rocca Calascio Fortress (1450 mt. - L'Aquila province)

Have you ever heard about Abruzzo? Probably not!

Well, maybe is better you start knowing it.

It is a region located in the Center of italy, on the right side of Rome that overlooks the Adriatic Sea.

I would define Abruzzo as a complete region from the naturalistic point of view: it has a mountainous area to the west side, which includes the Gran Sasso d'Italia, a coastal area to the east with beaches on the Adriatic sea, all around is green and hills. According to Wikipedia, it hosts 3 national parks and 38 protected nature reserves.

Geopolitical map of the Centre of italy

What makes Abruzzo special?
An Italian diplomat and journalist called Primo Levi described Abruzzo as "forte e gentile" (strong and kind), adjectives that personally I think best describe the Beauty of the region and the Character of its people.

Historically, Abruzzo it has always been a poor region, land of shepherds, farmers and emigrants. Besides, it is also a seismic territory like all the Centre of Italy. Over the history a number of earthquakes have destroyed villages and cities. The most recent violent healthquake happened on 6 April 2009 (5.9 Richter scale) where more than 300 people died and 65.000 people were displaced.

Despite all of this, people were always been able to recover and start again, slowly and step by step.

The same strength and kindness can be found in the landscape: Gran Sasso, the biggest mountain in the Centre of italy, is mt. 2912 high and snow remains there till the end of spring making life of people living in the mountain not so easy. But on the other side, people turned Gran Sasso into a touristic area being able to live with it together with farming activities. People are strong, nice, welcoming and prices for food and accomodation are lower compared to Northern and Southern Italy.

Gran Sasso view from dowtown during summer

What makes Abruzzo special then? Abruzzo is still authentic, genuine, and simple, that's why people like it, that’s why I love it.

Mountains, Sea, and wonderful Villages
Gran Sasso is not just a single mountain, but is a complex of various peaks of different heights. In summer, snow give place to wonder green fields in the valleys between the peaks. National parks and protected natural reserves lies there.

Piccolo Corno view (Gran Sasso) from above

Beauty and peace can be find also on the coast. The Adriatic Sea is a calm and light blue see where families and couples go to take rest. Sandy and very long beaches can be find on the Northern part, near to Giulianova area, after Pescara, Abruzzo's main city, the landscape changes and more stony and short beaches appear. Such an area is called Costa dei Trabocchi, due to Trabocchi, the typical seamen house used for fishing, nowadays restructured as small restaurant and typical bars.

Trabocco on the Trabocchi Coast

As if it would not be enough, Abruzzo has numerous small authentic middle ages villages made of stones. One of the most astonishing that I discovered is called Pietracamela, it has almost 200 habitants and is literally nestled in the mountain Gran Sasso, and surrounded by a protected natural reserve.

Pietracamela Village
Another wonderful historical village is called Civitella del Tronto, in the Teramo province, famous for its fortress, which is the largest in Italy. The village has paleolithic origins and it is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park.

Civitella del Tronto Village

Both of them belongs to the guide of the most beautiful italian villages that you can find here: http://borghipiubelliditalia.it/en/


What are you still waiting for?

Ryanair fly on the Pescara airport: https://www.ryanair.com/it/it/
Otherwise you can fly to Roma Fiumicino and take a bus which bring you to L’Aquila, Teramo or Pescara.


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