Sunday 25th October: Rock Tombs, Abbey & Historic Palazzo Lunch
A thousand years of Abruzzo in one Sunday: tombs cut into a riverbank, a Benedictine abbey, a family palazzo, and a long lunch at the table. Join a small group of friends with Vincenzo de Pompeis.
Morning: The Hidden Tombs of the Alento
We start at the ancient Abbey of San Liberatore a Maiella, then follow a quiet path down to the Alento River, catching the landscape mellow from summer’s lush green to autumnal russet, gold, flame, and yellow. A short walk along the water leads to five mysterious openings carved into the rock face: three tombs, a small niche, and a tiny chapel.
The tombs are arcosolia, a sarcophagus beneath an arch, the same form found in early Christian catacombs. No records survive. Their closeness to the abbey suggests monks were buried here, sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries.
If it has rained, the river path is off. Instead, we’ll visit two great abbeys: Santa Maria Arabona and San Liberatore a Maiella.
Afternoon: Inside Palazzo Pardi
Then we head to Manoppello, where a heavy door has stayed shut and private for centuries. Emanuele Pardi opens his family’s palazzo for a private tour: weathered stone busts and herms at the entrance, a grand baroque staircase up to the piano nobile, and elegant salons and bedchambers whose walls and ceilings were exquisitely painted between 1820 and 1840. Step into the hushed library, the intimate alcoves and a secret room looking straight into the family’s old chapel, and hear the dark tale of a murder within these walls in 1799.
Then we sit down at the family table for a long, generous Abruzzese lunch, lovingly homemade and with 3 of the family’s own wines
- Antipasto buffet: homemade fiadoni (cheese pastries), Pecorino di Farindola, pizze fritte, pallotte cace e ove (cheese and egg balls), local chicory, blanched then sautéed, eggs with peppers, and savoury homemade pizzelle
- First course: the family’s sagne e ceci, a truly special pasta with chickpeas
- Dessert buffet: totere di Casoli (cannoli), neole with jam, bocconotti and cacionetti
- Emanuele Pardi’s own Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva 2018, and an organic Cerasuolo and Pecorino from Montali.
Why Come?
- History you can touch: medieval tombs, a Benedictine abbey and a palazzo, in one day.
- Truly private: a family home opened by the family themselves, not a museum.
- The table: Abruzzo wine and regional food, served in the palazzo itself.
The Details
- Date: Sunday 25th October
- Meeting point: 09.30 at the Sports Bar in Serramonacesca
- Price: €100 per person, including a private tour of the palazzo, lunch, wine and a day of stories; pay by cash or by card at the palazzo
- Bring: comfortable walking shoes for the river path
- Places are limited
To book your place, register here;
https://forms.gle/sFVTr43ERaYKHcQc8
We will confirm your place by WhatsApp
Email questions to abruzzoescape.it@gmail.com or call +39 352 265 1112.
Author: Abruzzo Escape
This project pursues the goal of promoting and contributing to the preservation of historic residences, following a trend that in recent years has seen growing investment in the territory driven by exclusive tours.
