After a couple days in Penne, Ben's family friend Emilia set up a tour for us to see more of the Abruzzo region. John, an English expat living with his wife in a little valley near Penne, runs tours of the area and the nearby Gran Sasso National Park. If you find yourself in Abruzzo, definitely give John a call. Here's the website for his Bed & Breakfast and tour company, Undici Abruzzo. There are some beautiful old towns in the area that predate the national park (by hundreds of years), but other than those places, the park is protected from development, which makes for some beautiful scenery.
During the driving tour, we had a huge elevation gain that resulted in some amazing views, even just along the roadside:
Here's one of the first towns we stopped in, Farindola:
Here's another view of the valley, as we got up even higher. In this area they grow wine, olives, and sunflowers (for the oil); you can see all the fields below:
About an hour or so after leaving Penne, we got up to a plateau and the area they call "Little Tibet", since it looks very stark and mountainous, with very few trees.
As we were driving up to this break in the fences, we saw a shepherd moving his sheep across the road:
And later on we saw some cattle (with baby calves!):
This national park is home to the highest peaks in continental Italy south of the Alps. This peak called Corno Grande is the highest in the whole Appenines mountain range at 9,554 feet!
Up at the base of the peak there are a few places of interest. The first is a pretty cool looking little observatory:
There is also this hotel, where Mussolini was imprisoned at the end of WWII. In an effort to hide Mussolini from the Germans, he was moved to Campo Imperatore, because it is such an isolated area that would be difficult for his German allies to reach for a rescue attempt.
The hotel has kept his room just as it was when he stayed there, and they have a small exhibit with some photos of his arrival and quite dramatic departure in an airplane. Here's the office area of his room:
Here are some weird pictures on the wall in his room of soldiers forming the letters "H" for Hitler and "M" for Mussolini:
Nazi soldiers came to help Mussolini escape and had to hold the tail of the glider plane while they revved the engine before letting the plane drop off this ledge. Apparently the plane did a free fall for a minute before it was able to straighten out and take Mussolini to safety in Nazi-controlled Vienna (see here for more on the raid). There is also a cable car that runs during winter; here's the view looking down the mountain with the cables of the car in the foreground:
The scenery up on top of the Campo Imperatore was incredible, and so different from the area closer to Penne just over an hour away:
After having a quick coffee break at the hotel, we drove further into the park to visit some really old towns. We're talking REALLY old. Some of these places have city walls, gates, little doors and buildings that are from Roman times but have been continuously rebuilt and maintained.
I liked this house, with just the door left and nature taking back over inside the rest of the house:
This area has had some earthquakes recently; unfortunately, some of these old towers and city walls fell, and are now being supported by scaffolding structures:
I think people really were smaller back then, check out this door!
After stopping in the town Rocca di Calascio for lunch (Will had mushroom chitarrina pasta and wild boar and I had a local lentil soup and tasty gnocchi with radicchio and chickpea sauce), we did a short hike up to the top of the town to see the castle. Here's the view of the valley from the castle:
And here's the castle!
We were having a good time pretending to be archers:
Here's the view looking back at the highest peak in Gran Sasso:
Just down the hill from the castle there is a neat little chapel, both were in such incredible shape for being so old.
On our way back home to Penne we stopped in another town with a scenic historic center. A lot of these little towns are somewhat abandoned, but there are definitely a good number of families who still live in these remote places.
The tour was so fun, and we were glad we got to see a little more of the Abruzzo region!
Next post coming soon, about our time in Cinque Terre!
Since arriving here on June 13th, we've been getting to know a little town called Penne, located in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Penne is a VERY old town. According to Wikipedia, the Vestini people, a pre-Roman Italic tribe, were living in Penne from around 300 BC until they were defeated by the Romans in 89 BC (see the photo below). Penne today is a scenic town of about 10,000 people nestled in a range of beautiful hills under an hour drive to the Adriatic Sea.
Our friend Ben's family has a beautiful two-bedroom apartment in Penne, and we have been lucky enough to stay here for a while and experience the "real" Italy. We've learned that means the Italy of relaxing, taking walks, and buying lots of fresh produce and pasta from the local shops. The streets in Penne are perfect for wandering around. In Italy you're often in danger of getting lost on winding alleys and streets, but in such a small town it is easy to find your way back to the main square, and from there, the apartment.
Ben was with us for the first four days of our stay here, but then he had to head back to New York, with a stop in Dublin on the way. The reason Ben's family has a place in Penne is because of their Italian heritage. Ben's great-grandfather was Francesco Federico Falco (Triple F, as we came to call him), and was a well-known guy around Penne. FFF was a renowned doctor and intellectual who participated in the first Cuban revolution against Spain. There is a street named after him in Penne, and this plaque in the courtyard of the city hall building, pretty cool!
The Falco-Tarnoff apartment is located in the city center, a short walk from the main square and all the little shops around town. This big church is right next to the apartment, though these days it is out of use and not open for visitors:
Our first night in Penne was a festival for the town's patron saint, so there were a ton of people outside for a concert and carnival games. It felt like we stumbled into town just in time for Penne's Garlic Festival equivalent; you Gilroy folks know what I'm talking about. Here's the stage where we stopped for a few minutes to listen to a (pretty bad) Italian ballad:
We even took this short video for posterity, enjoy!
The main entrance to the city is this large gate, which they had decorated with lights for the festival:
On our second day in town we walked around with Ben's family friend, Emilia, an Italian (Abruzzo region native), who speaks perfect English and has helped the Falco-Tarnoffs get accustomed to life in Italy. Emilia is so sweet and insisted on taking us around the town to all the shops to pick up some food for the house.
One of the most exciting purchases we made early on were these raviolis! They were filled with ricotta and came from the pasta fresca shop just a few blocks from the apartment:
Emilia gave us some sage from her garden and we made a delicious sauce of butter, sage, garlic and fresh tomatoes:
After eating restaurant food for a week or so, we were happy to cook at home and make something (relatively) healthy! Though overall, restaurants in Italy always have a lot of vegetarian options and vegetables available as side dishes, contorni.
During our walk with Emilia we ran into a funeral procession, which was led by a marching band with a bunch of the locals walking behind the hearse.
I took a really short video just so y'all could hear the music they were playing:
Some tourists (mostly English) make it to Penne, but in a lot of ways the place is still very traditional. As the funeral procession made its way up the narrow street, each business it passed closed their doors (or pulled down the metal grates outside) and turned off their lights as a sign of respect. They also put up posters around town announcing who has passed away. Here's the notice for the procession we saw, apparently he was a well-loved professor who was only 76:
At some point I lost track of the days here, but we took photos around Penne almost every time we walked around. The houses here are right next to each other, and in some cases, large medieval palaces have been divided up to become apartments. People decorate their houses with lots of flowers, and a lot of the time will even line the public streets with plants and flowers. Here's one house I thought was particularly beautiful:
This is a fairly typical street in Penne; this one happens to be up toward the top of one of the hills, so these people have pretty amazing views.
From one lady's front terrace, we took some fabulous photos of the mountain scenery that surrounds Penne. The old lady came out of her house as we were taking these photos, and I thought she might tell us off for being on her property. I was wrong! She was so kind to us, asked if we were traveling through Penne, and encouraged us to take more photos. People here seem really proud of their country and have been so nice to us. I think everyone knows tourism is valuable for the region, but it also seems like people here are just friendly.
Here are a couple more photos we took after talking to the Pennese woman:
I think this photo of Ben is great! He is an author, and we were trying to convince him that he should use this for the photo on his next book jacket. :)
One of the more memorable nights we've had here was dinner at one of Ben's family friends' houses. Luciano and Maria invited us over for dinner, which started out with an aperitif and snacks on their terrace, which has a fabulous view:
Here we are on the terrace, with all the snacks! They served us delicious olives (seasoned and brined at home), salami, sausage (homemade), two types of bruschetta (tomatoes and truffle), and a few types of local Pecorino (which comes from the word for "sheep") cheese! This could have been a whole dinner for me, but I had to pace myself for the courses to come.
We moved the party inside for dinner, and they made us a feast! First they brought out bow-tie pastas with a mushroom, sausage, onion and carrot sauce (and a portion for me without sausage, so sweet!). After the pasta course, they brought out a chicken and pepper dish, cheeses (fresh mozzarella, more pecorino), green salad, smoked red pepper salad, and probably other delicious things I can't remember!
I quickly learned not to leave my plate empty, since I was sitting next to the mom, Maria, and she kept telling me to eat (mangia mangia!) She also kept pinching my cheek and telling me I'm too skinny; I really got that Italian Mother experience! She didn't speak any English, so a lot of times her daughter helped translate and I did my best with Spanish to communicate. Maria's husband Luciano was also a character. He was very jovial and excited to see Ben and to meet us. He spoke English and also some Spanish, and we got along great. Luciano is a retired government worker, and was one of the first people Ben's mom contacted years ago about her Penne roots. He was full of great stories, but mostly just seemed really proud of his wife and daughter, and that they were all happy together. They might actually be the most adorable family in the world. So glad we got to meet them!
Luciano is far left in this photo and Maria is the one between Ben and WP. Their daughter is on Ben's other side and the other three in this photo are Andrew, Francesca, and Emilia, Ben's other close friends in Penne. Emilia and her husband Andrew will be moving to the UK soon (Andrew is English), but have been in Penne for many years and have been wonderful neighbors, guides, and friends to the Falco-Tarnoffs and to us.
One of our other big social engagements while Ben was in town was going over to (yet another) family friend's house for an aperitivo. Ben, WP, and I met Emilia and her family before heading the one block over to Ugo's house. As you can see, Emilia is quite petite, and when she first met me and Will she was visibly shocked by how tall we are! We're tall for all of Southern Europe, but maybe particularly so for rural Italy. Sometimes that can cause problems for our heads and doorways...
Ugo and his daughter Alessandra (she's about 16 years old) live in a beautiful old house in Penne, with a fantastic view from their terrace. If you haven't noticed yet, terraces are big in Penne! Here we are on the terrace:
And here's the view looking out towards a nearby monastery and the mountains:
Hugo and Alessandra are a very nice family, and are getting ready for a trip to the U.S. this summer to check out California and Las Vegas. They both speak great English, and it was fun to recommend some places in California for them to check out.
After about 10 days traveling together, it was time to say goodbye to Ben. Being the great friend that he is, he agreed to take home one of our suitcases for us to pick up in the US. Thank you, Ben! I swear, it's not actually that heavy...
After Ben's departure we've still managed to make it out and about in Penne, and the other day we took a trek up to the other hill in Penne. Tiny cars like these are everywhere in Italy (this one is a Fiat 500, one of the most popular Italian cars ever), and I think they are so adorable! They do kind of make me look like a giant though, right?
There are two big hills in town that used to be separate villages, but have long since joined to become Penne. There is still some surviving rivalry between the two hills, and in August they hold a competition for the "most beautiful woman." Each hill presents their contestant, and somehow one of the ladies is chosen as Penne's "most beautiful"! I actually wish we could be here to see this festival in person, since it sounds hilarious, and dates back to medieval times. These photos are from the "other" hill. The buildings on the other side of the trees in the background of the photo on the right are near the Falco-Tarnoff apartment.
Speaking of our neighborhood here, Emilia and her family have been so nice to us! Even after Ben left, Emilia has been keeping in touch with us and inviting us to hang out with her and her family. A couple days ago, we all went up to a mountain villa outside of town to take a dip in the pool. The house is a rental property that Emilia and Andrew take care of, and since no one has it booked until July, they are enjoying the pool and doing some projects around the house to keep it in shape. Lately it has been between 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit around here, so getting in the pool is almost necessary to cool down! Here's the pool, seen from the balcony:
The house itself is also very nice. I think they said it sleeps up to eight people, and has two second story balconies.
John and Mary, an English couple living in Abruzzo, gave us a ride to and from the house, and hung out with us there, which was a lot of fun. As the day cooled down a bit, Francesca and her friend (both 10-year-old girls) got tired of swimming, and we all ate a delicious Italian barbecue dinner (including lots of grilled veggies, cheese, bruschetta, and salad for me) together outside. It was a very relaxing day, and we were so thankful to be included.
The next post will be coming soon about our day tour to some other parts of the Abruzzo region. We saw lots of old towns, including one laid out on a grid that dates back to Roman times, a national park that they call "Little Tibet", and a really awesome castle! Here's a sneak peek:
