This seasonal lake located in a plain of the Sirente masiff in the Sirente-Velino regional park, Abruzzo is certainly off-the-beaten track. Spring is the best time to admire it as it is full of rain water reflecting the blue sky and the grass around it is green. In summer the lake looks more like a large dirty puddle. Although nature and ...
Garlicky Delicacy from Abruzzo
There are so many tasty Italian dishes out there! The other day, for instance, for the first time, I cooked a delicacy from Sulmona, Abruzzo: garlic scapes. They are garlic flower stalks that are picked before the blooms develop to make the bulbs grow bigger. Sulmona is famous for its tasty red garlic and all ...
Traditional costumes in Scanno, Abruzzo
While flicking through my Italian photo archives the other day I found these wonderful photos that my American friend Linda sent me. She was visiting a small mountain village of Scanno in Abruzzo last summer and came across two local women wearing traditional clothes. Scanno is one of very few places in Italy where you can snap pictures like that, as older women ...
Learning How To Make Lentil Soup In Santo Stefano, Abruzzo
I travelled to the tiny village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Abruzzo, to learn how to make the famous traditional lentil soup. Nonna Aida, my teacher for the day, was sitting in her little comfy armchair by the kitchen window when I arrived. She had a pair of glasses on and was slowly sorting through a ...
Small Campsites in Italy
Camping can be a great option for traveling Italy on a budget. But what about the noise of camping activities, queues in the shower and tents pitched side by side? Camping villages and sites tend to get very crowded as many of them offer on average 150-200 pitches. But, as I have discovered, there are some ...
Sulmona, Abruzzo: a medley of history, colours and flavours
One of the perks of being a blogger is that you meet wonderful people online. I was very lucky to get to know Anya Kassoff, a food blogger turned cookbook writer. I love her beautiful book of vegetarian and vegan recipes, The Vibrant Table, in which she turns simple ingredients into culinary masterpieces. Anya contacted ...
Travelling by Vintage Train
Is there anything more romantic than travelling by train in Italy? Yes, travelling by VINTAGE train! The Italian state railway foundation runs a project “Timeless railways” with excellent itineraries in Lombardy, Tuscany, Abruzzo and Sicily for those who want to travel at a slow pace in old restored steam and diesel trains.The “Val D’Orcia Railway” ...
Harvesting Precious Saffron in Abruzzo
Dante Santavicca and his son Stefano are slowly moving along the rows dotted with small plants plucking delicate lilac buds, one by one, and gently placing them in baskets. It is saffron harvest time! I came to the Navelli Valley to see how one of the world’s most costly spices, saffron from Abruzzo, is harvested. The ...
Traditional Sunday Lunch in Abruzzo
As many of my readers know I am in love with Italian food. I can talk for hours about Italian recipes, local specialties and good restaurants. Discovering a new ingredient makes me happy, being invited for lunch in a local family sends me into ecstasy! So, when my friend Novelia invited me to join her ...