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Guide to Abruzzo

Guide to Abruzzo (62)

Our recommendations if you are planning a vacation or visit to Abruzzo.

ABRUZZO TRAVEL INFORMATION AND TOURISM SUGGESTIONS

The region of Abruzzo includes Pescara, L'Aquila, Teramo, Chieti, Sulmona, Scanno and Avezzano. Although the long coast of Abruzzo and Molise runs south along the Adriatic to Puglia, the ancient identity of the territory can be found inland.

Consult all our Abruzzo travel articles below. They are ordered by the latest added or updated. Alternatively, access them from the links in the right column divided by recipes, food, wine, itineraries, tours and trip suggestions.

Favorite Restaurants in Vasto

Written by Philip Curnow

Published in Abruzzo Food

We have had the pleasure of exploring the territory of Vasto, both the city itself and along this stretch of the Adriatic coast in Abruzzo in either direction. Vasto city is full of restaurants, but those outside, and especially the famous trabocchi which offer the possibility of a meal or dinner, are a little more difficult to locate once on the ground. The list below should help and comprises our own discoveries and the personal recommendations of a bed and breakfast we stayed in located in the Protected Park of Punta Aderci. SELECTED VASTO AREA RESTAURANTS AND TRATTORIA …

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Last modified on 23 May 2013

Abruzzo Tales: The Bonfire of Sant'Antonio Abate

Published in Abruzzo Itineraries

Falo or Bonfire of Saint Anthony Abate in Salle, Abruzzo

Michelle Capobianco is the owner of a catering company called Majella Home Cooking located in Queens, New York. As you can tell from the name of her business, she has strong roots in Abruzzo. Her father was born in the village of Salle and she return to her family home every summer, from which she is blessed with a stunning backyard view of the Majella We are glad to share her article about 'La Festa di Sant’Antonio Abate' the local annual event which takes place in many places of Italy on the 17th of January. Michelle is also offering to…

Last modified on 23 May 2013

Festival of Snakes, Cocullo

Published in Abruzzo Itineraries

Media

This is one of the most unique of the ancient festivals of Italy, which is celebrated in a peculiar way in the small town of Cocullo less than an hour's drive from Rome. The patron is Saint Dominic Abbot and local legend has it that the Saint did the townspeople a favor by rendering all the poisonous snakes in the area harmless. So when the Saint's statue is carried in procession on the first Thursday in May, the people drape it, and themselves, with hundreds of live, slithering snakes. The behavior of the snakes (none are poisonous) that are placed…

Last modified on 21 May 2013

Abruzzo Tales: The Bonfire of Saint Anthony

Published in Abruzzo Itineraries

Today, Salle has a single “falò” in a small "piazzetta" overlooking the deep river gorge of the Fiume Orta at the edge of town. Our friend Pierluigi, one of the bonfire’s engineers, told me that the “falò” is lit at dusk and the festivities march late into the evening with folk music led by Antonello, the town’s resident accordionist who only recently succeeded my dad’s Compare Alberto after 60 years of dedicated service. The revelers each bring a bottle or two of “buon vino rosso,” and enjoy a meal of "sagne e fagioli" cooked in a traditional hand-hammered copper cauldron…

Last modified on 15 April 2013

Campli Porchetta Ham Festival

Published in Abruzzo Food

Ariccia in the Roman hills of Lazio is well known for its pork or porchetta. But this Italian roasted pork delicacy can be found across central Italy, not least in Campli in Abruzzo in the province of Teramo. At the middle of August go there for porchetta ham festival or 'sagra della porchetta italica'. It is, in effect, an annual competition when the best local pork is judged in the main square of Campli. The event attracts many people from around the region as well as curious holiday makers. It is the summer gourmet happening for this delightful town.

Last modified on 12 April 2013

Contemporary Abruzzo Cuisine

Published in Abruzzo Food

Several years ago, friends of our´s and I drove up this winding snake like mountain road, while our friends had insisted that this one was of the best restaurants for milk fed baby lamb. I had to imagine what the place had once been like, a modest, restaurant and inn ... in the middle of the land of shepherds. We had finally arrived at what is now a contemporary and beautiful hotel restaurant called La Bandiera and owned and run by Marcello Spadone and family. It is located in lands that look like emerald grazing isles, and rugged purple mountain…

Last modified on 06 April 2013

Marcello Spadone's Roast Milk Fed Baby Lamb

Published in Abruzzo Recipes

When I had first travelled to the village of Civitella Casanova, Pescara, in Abruzzi, La Bandiera Hotela and Restaurant were surrounded totally by shepherds tending their flocks ... Not all has changed on our last visit, however, for certainty not the roast milk fed baby lamb prepared by Marcello Spadone, owner and Restaurateur of La Bandiera, one of the best restaurants in the Abruzzi region. Here is the recipe ... INGREDIENTS 1 five pound leg of milk fed baby lamb or leg, trimmed of excess fat, 7 tblsps. of Extra virgin olive oil, 1/3 cup minced finely fresh herbs…

Last modified on 06 April 2013