ABRUZZO

ABRUZZO Our (unconventional) map of Abruzzo: not with the centres, but with an eagle, bear and chamois, sunumbrellas on the Adriatic, a Romanesque church, the statue of an Italic warrior, a skier, a woman working on the traditional tombolo (a kind of lacework)

Abruzzo is in the heart of Italy

Abruzzo in Italy Abruzzo, in the middle of the Italian peninsula, has a surface of 4,168 square miles and a population 1,249,388 (according to a 1991 census). It is bordered by Marche in the North, Latium in the West, Molise in the South and the Adriatic Sea in the East. emblem The geo-morphological features of the region are symbolized in its emblem, a shield divided into three oblique white, green and blue bands, which represent the snowy mountains, the woods and the sea.

Invaders left their traces everywhere, from the Lombards in the early Middle Ages to the Normans, the Hohenstaufen, the Anjou, the Aragonese, the Spanish Hapsburgs, and finally, in the 18th century, the Bourbon kingdom of Naples.

Abruzzo comprises the four provinces of L'Aquila (the regional capital), Chieti, Pescara and Teramo. For time immemorial closed within its mountains and away from all major communication routes Abruzzo is now less than an hour away from Rome or from the Adriatic Sea. In the 1960's the construction of highways from Rome, Bologna and Bari, and more recently the 10km-long tunnel under the Gran Sasso opened the region to the rest of Italy and Europe. Here you will find the highest peaks of the Apennines, the Gran Sasso (Monte Corno 9,560 feet), Maiella and Velino-Sirente, deep canyons and valleys, national and regional parks, wide sandy beaches, an astonishing wealth of artistic and natural beauty. Citadels and castles appear in the middle of woods and pastures, in the parks with some luck you can see brown bears, wolves and chamois, and eagles.

The discovery of the many resources this region has to offer to visitors has just about started, and under many points of view its natural, artistic and cultural treasures are still unknown. This short overview will take us along three itineraries to discover some of the finest castles of the region (Itinerary 1), L'Aquila, the regional capital (Itinerary 2), and the religious destinations (Itinerary 3).