Well this Christmas Day in Abruzzo has to be our strangest yet, courtesy of a 100-130 km/h hot blasting scirocco, that left us almost feeling we were celebrating Easter rather than a mid-winter festive feast!
The temperature was a balmy 23°, and for those locally who weren’t having the traditional Abruzzo aspic-style turkey, plumping instead for, say, roast capon courtesy of an electric oven, Christmas Day lunch was forced toward a simpler gentler fare due to the elements depriving us of electricity throughout the whole day. This meant no ADSL too; thus conversation, board/bored games and candles were the essence of this Christmas Day in Bascianella, all to the disconcertingly relentless backdrop of the Banshee wind outside. A change from the chilly snow-clad Christmases we had become accustomed to in previous years.
Listen to the Mad Scirocco Christmas Wind in Abruzzo
Author: Sam Dunham
Sam is a very lucky midlife 'mamma' to A who is 12 and juggles her work as a self-employed freelance SEO food and travel copywriter and EFL teacher. She is the founder of the Life In Abruzzo Cultural Association, co-founder of Let's Blog Abruzzo. she is the founder of the 'English in the Woods' initiative, teaching English outdoors in a forest style school.
