FURTHER: A TRAVEL BLOG: Abruzzo

We went down from Padova to hang out in Abruzzo in one of the hill towns a few kilometers in from the coast. Deb’s brother’s girlfriend was so enchanted with the area that she bought a house here. After spending a few days here, we can see why.

Abruzzo vista

Our little Clio zips up the hill as the sun shoots orange daggers of light through gold rimmed clouds. A giant fiery dragon cloud is lit by the sun. We pass vineyards with vines heavy with deep purple grapes, A Lamborghini whizzes by, but this Lamborghini is a tractor pulling a trailer laden with grapes dripping a trail of juice. It is harvest time in Abruzzo.

Vineyards right, olives left

We roll into a small town perched on a hill overlooking the vineyards and olive orchards below. Just as the sun is setting, we spot the only blue house on the street and find a parking place right in front. Mike’s girlfriend, bursts out the door just as we pull up. Her excitement is overwhelming. She has spent months in anticipation and preparation for our arrival. We quickly unload the car and are shown to our suite of rooms on the third floor. I step through French doors and admire the room. White walls terminate in huge coved crown molding. A large Venetian chandelier hangs in the center of the room. A comfy couch placed on a woven mat, invites me to sit. But Rene is eager to lead us across the terrazzo floor to the bedroom. A wrought iron bed covered with a deep blue quilt and lots of pillows invites me to lie down. (I am tired so this is difficult to resist) A small café table, dresser and nightstands with lamps finish the room. She walks across the room and unlatches the French doors. We step out onto a granite slab balcony to gaze across the orchards and vineyards below. In the distance I see to the deep blue Adriatic. At the other end of the suite, I find a view over the rooftops.

View from south balcony

View from north balcony

We head back downstairs to crack open a bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and toast the hostess and Deb’s brother Michael and dive into a light supper of Italian cold cuts, cheese and fresh Italian bread. We eat and drink until we can eat no more and decide to take a stroll through the village.

Out the door to right in just a few feet we find the central piazza. This is a modest village so there is nothing fancy about the piazza. It is quiet for a Saturday night, but this is to be expected in a little village in the middle of olive groves and vineyards where everyone has worked the harvest from sunup to sundown. We walk down narrow streets of three and four story buildings. The town dates back to the sixth century so many of the houses are hundreds of years old. You can feel history here as you walk through the quiet night. The Lombards came here in the sixth century in search of new income and within a few years, the village was an important commercial center. However, today it is a sleepy little town that the modern world has mostly passed by.

A few days later, we sit in the downstairs kitchen. The open door reveals a small slice of the Abruzzo countryside patterned with alternating fields of olives and grapes. The late September sun shines brightly here, illuminating hills of green that roll all the way to the sea. Lunch is a fresh green salad with locally grown greens and tomatoes, the fine red wine of the region and more Italian cold cuts and fresh Italian bread. I sit and sip my wine gazing out the door. Life is good.