Ciao! I was born and raised in Pescara, my father’s side of the family comes from Alanno and my mother’s from the hills of San Silvestro, so these roads are home to me. These are the fourteen towns I’d tell a friend to start with, and I’ve written a full guide for each one.
The fourteen towns
- Pescara, my hometown and the region’s biggest city, with a long sandy seafront and the birthplace of the poet Gabriele d’Annunzio.
- Penne, the città del mattone, the town of bricks…its whole historic centre is built of them, and it’s where I bought my own house in 2008.
- Sulmona, birthplace of the Roman poet Ovid and home of Italy’s most famous confetti, the sugared almonds.
- Vasto, on the southern coast next to the Punta Aderci nature reserve…for me, the most beautiful stretch of our shoreline.
- Rocca Calascio, the highest fortress in the Apennines, standing at 1,460 metres.
- Santo Stefano di Sessanio, a fortified Medici-era village at 1,250 metres, famous for its tiny mountain lentils.
- Scanno, one of my favourite villages in Abruzzo, sitting above the famous heart-shaped lake.
- Civitella del Tronto, one of the largest fortresses in Europe, and the last Bourbon stronghold to surrender in 1861.
- Guardiagrele, the town d’Annunzio called the city of stone, where coppersmiths and goldsmiths still work at the foot of the Maiella.
- Atri, whose cathedral holds the largest fresco cycle in Abruzzo, with the calanchi clay gullies all around.
- Castelli, the ceramics town…its maiolica sits today in the Louvre and the British Museum.
- Pescocostanzo, a Renaissance stone town on a high mountain plateau, where tombolo bobbin lace has been made for at least four centuries.
- Tagliacozzo, a town I know well and love, with the elegant Piazza dell’Obelisco and the site of the 1268 battle Dante mentions in the Inferno.
- Ortona, keeper of the relics of St Thomas the Apostle since 1258, and the start of the Trabocchi coast.
If you’re planning a first trip, start with my ultimate guide to visiting Abruzzo…it pulls all of these towns into one picture.