Abruzzo

Scanno hangs on a slope above the Sagittario valley: white stone, stairs, arches, narrow doors that never bother announcing themselves. You leave the lake road, climb into the centro, and the air thins a little. Shutters stay half closed at midday. An old woman in black wool crosses a piazza with a shopping bag and … Read more

You hear the water before you see the faces. Down in Borgo Rivera, where L’Aquila slips toward the Aterno, the Fontana delle 99 Cannelle wraps three sides of a small square in pink and white stone. Masks spit thin streams into a long trough. Some look almost human. Others look like half-remembered animals. A few … Read more

Chieti sits on a ridge like a ship that never left dry dock. Up at La Civitella the air runs cooler. It carries dust off amphitheatre stone and, on clear days, the pale bulk of the Maiella inland. East, the Adriatic is a thin silver line. Streets drop away in terraces. Below, scooters grind switchbacks … Read more