Sights around Teramo in Abruzzo

There are lots of things to see and do in northern Abruzzo, Here is my list of sights around Teramo.

I first fell in love with Italy in the Teramo province, so I was greatly disappointed to learn that it had not been found worthy of mention in any of the numerous guidebooks, I have accumulated over the years. Who is going to tell the thousands of tourists that gather around the Sette Sorelle beaches of Martinsicuro, Alba Adriatica, Tortoreto, Giulianova, Roseto degli Abruzzi, Pineto and Silvi Marina about the wild orchids, wolves, bears and other extraordinary attractions? There are lots of things to see and do on a grey or scorching summer day in northern Abruzzo, and here is my list.

Sights around Teramo

If you can’t stand another hour inhaling the smell of sun lotion, you might be ripe for a city break. Giulianova hides an unspoiled centro storico just 1 km inland behind the Lido with stately old family homes, grand piazzas, original shopping and a maze of timeless alleys. Most of the Rai 1 television series ‘Domani è un altro giorno’ was shot here, and film locations are generally recommendable for their suggestive visual qualities. Another favourite is Teramo with its ancient town gates, quiet and tidy streets, and view of the mountains, not to mention the gothic cathedral that seems to have a fake front. If you are lucky and go on Tuesday or Saturday mornings, you may even browse the weekly market for the latest Italian fashion (copies), fresh vegetables, antiques and an assortment of can’t-live-without-it bric-a-brac.

Among lace curtains and beach towels we encountered a very friendly abruzzese, who had spent some time as a guest worker in Germany longing for the marvels of his Heimat. Now he could not stop praising the Grand Sasso and Monti della Laga national parks with a range of truly spectacular mountains, lakes, waterfalls, forests and gorges interrupted by sigths of rare flowers and endangered animals.

Sights around Teramo– You really should not visit Teramo without going up in the mountains. There are so many places of outstanding beauty and tranquility. I go there to hike, fish or relax as often as possible, he said. And he was absolutely right. You will never get enough of Grand Sasso as a place of pure zen.

Around the park you will also find orginal sights such as the Museo del Lupo, Museo della Grotta di S. Angelo and Tossicia Museo delle Tradizioni Artigiane. Along with ancient fortresses like the fascinating Castel Manfrino situated on the top of a rock overlooking the Salinello Valley, the fortified market town Capestrano and the magnificent Bourbon ‘Fortezza’ in Civitella del Tronto.

Lovers of arts and crafts should definitely visit Castelli, where ceramic workshops produce a special bright and colourful majolica. Carlo Levi called Castelli ‘the sistine chapel of Italian majolica’, and that seems to me like an epigraph worth investigating.

What are your favourite sights and attractions in northern Abruzzo?

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Italy and the fog metaphor

Autumn envelops most of Italy in a thick fog. And quite a few Italian writers seem obsessed with the fog metaphor.

In autumn Italians chew fog.  As soon as you cross the Alps and wake up on the Po plain, the world tends to disappear in an unreal milky white haze, taking the top of all the sounds and smells and making pedestrians, bicycles and cars move in slow motion. I suppose, it feels like diving into a glass of Pernod and having to struggle to make it back to the surface.

The phenomenon is beautifully described by Gabriele d’Annunzio, who in ‘Notturno’ describes the fogginess of Venice:

“Usciamo. Mastichiamo la nebbia. La città è piena di fantasmi. Camminano Gli uomini senza rumore, fasciati di caligene. I canali fumigano. … Le lampadine lucono come in fuochi fatui in campo santo …. I fantasmi passano, sfiorano, si dileguano …. [qualcuno] Cammina senza Tacchi, senza Scarpe, senza sandali … Una falda di nebbia mi strischia su la Gota. frotta Una di ubriachi Urla lagiù, in fondo al traghetto.”

[Let’s go out. Let’s chew the fog. The city is full of Phantoms. But walk noiselessly, wrapped in dimness. The Canals smoke …. The lamp bulbs shine like will-o’-the-wisp in a graveyard … The Phantoms are passing, brushing city, melting …. (Someone) is walking without heels, without shoes, without sandals …. A flap of fog grazes my cheek. A gang of drunk is shouting down there, down by the ferry.]
(Translation from Literarywiki.org)

fog metaphor

D’Annunzio’s text is used by Umberto Eco in ‘The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana‘ along with numerous other fog references, that are used to portray modern Italian history, for it is not just meteorologically, the autumn sky sinks to earth.

But in September, October and November, damp weather covers most of the peninsula. Banks of mist and fog wrap the lakes in Lombardy and Piedmont, and the canals of Venice. It lies between the hills of Tuscany, along the coasts and in the foothills of the Abruzzo and Lucania mountains. Even on the flat, hot Salento plain morning air can be so close to water vapor that it is impossible to glimpse the nearest olive tree.

Such an autumn morning in Puglia everything is wet and the silence is broken only by the sound of shotguns. For some inexplicable reason fog does not dampen another seasonal phenomenon, so during hunting season, there will be hunters. Their catch, apart from stray dogs, small birds and lizards, is a mystery, for I have never seen any kind of game in Salento. But surely the hunters take something in exchange for the used green and red cartridges strewn on the ground, when the sun makes the last of the misty water droplets evaporate.

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Holiday entertainment: Circus in Italy

Circus in Italy line up snakes, tigers and tightrope walkers without a safety net as family holiday entertainment.

Apart from a long peek over the border crossing at Monte Bianco in the early 1980s my first trip to Italy ended in Villa Rosa di Martinsicuro in the Teramo province. A T-junction of a seaside resort located in the middle of a former river delta. In 1991 the Villa Rosa hotels, villas, horse drawn carriages and all-night open bikini shops, attracted a mixed clientele of Danes and Germans, who might as well have stayed at the Lido in Veneto. Apart from the beach the town had few attraction to offer until the day a circus arrived.

It was not exactly the greatest circus in the world, so all performers had multiple roles and an amazing talent for multitasking. The pot-bellied ringmaster also served as usher, ticket collector, popcorn salesman, juggler, clown and magician. The slightly overweight, middle-aged lady, who sat in the ticket booth, also appeared as a tightrope walker and trapeze artist dressed in red body suit and fishnet stockings. And then there was a very pale, thin young man who spent the break and minutes up to the start of the show chain smoking in a corner. He was the circus’ animal trainer.

Circus in Italy

Even though the text was written years back, circus in Italy maintains the wild traditions as this photo from April 2013 goes to show.

He did all right with the horses and sea lions, but just before the break he had to present a 5-6 meter long python, and it was obvious he did not like it one bit. Still, he wrapped the snake around his neck and carried it around among the audience, so the children could touch it and feel the cold scales, but as soon as the cuddle session was over, the animal was thrown into a box and quickly secured with a lid.

After the intermission the young man stood bare breasted and sweating in the middle of a ring, while a cage with a tiger was presented. The big cat seemed slightly doped, but the animal trainer nevertheless appeared shaky, when he entered the cage and struck his head into the tiger’s jaws. The entire audience held their breath, but luckily tiger’s teeth did not chatter as much as the animal trainer’s, and no heads were lost.

The acrobat, the young man and the animals survived the show, and I was dumbfounded by such a performance with no apparent safety net. Italian circus is truly unforgettable.

Circus in Italy and other wild life experiences

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