What shall we say about the region of Abruzzo? For one thing I suppose you could say we're a little spoilt here.  We have three national parks and one regional park which altogether cover a third of the region and constitute 'Europe's Greenest Area'. We also have five lakes, three mountain ranges and 75 miles of coastline!  We have three principle cities which are L'Aquilla, Pescara and Teramo.  Several larger towns (called città) such as Avezzano, Sulmona, Chieti and Lanciano and then there are the hundreds of villages and hamlets (called paesi) to be found throughout the myriad valleys and mountains.

During the winter there is cross-country and downhill skiing on one of the many local slopes, the most popular of which are centred around the ski resort of Roccaraso which has five chair lifts.  And in the summer there are 790 square miles of national and regional parks to explore, not to mention the miles and miles of beaches; the nearest being at Pescara - forty-five minutes from Introdacqua.

Summertime is the season of 'the festa', every town and village has its own patron saint and associated celebrations.  Fireworks during the daytime - oh yes! Each festa is unique and generally involves lots of eating and drinking of local wines and speciality foods often followed by dancing late into the night.  Anyone like to Tango?.....

Twenty minutes away is the Gorge of Sagittarius leading up to Lake Scanno all with breath taking views. In the other direction lies the ancient Roman town of Sulmona, home to the poet Ovid. There you will find swimming pools, a theatre, a cinema, sports complex, shops, restaurants and bars and on the outskirts lots of supermarkets.