Religious

The small Chieti town of San Giovanni Teatino’s re-enactment of the rites associated with their patron saint, John the Baptist, foraging for wild herbs and flowers to make the elixir, L’Acqua di San Giovanni illustrates perfectly one of the more colourful ways to learn about Abruzzo and a particular community

Many people will be adding the figurine of a shepherd zampognaro (bagpiper) to their Nativity scenes this Christmas with little knowledge of their importance throughout the centuries of the shepherd bagpipers of Abruzzo

Have you ever wondered where the symbol for the humanitarian organisation, The Red Cross came from, did you know of its relationship to Abruzzo?

It is very easy to miss the church of Santa Maria, for it lies far away from the road to anywhere. The road to it lies through Cappelle, and then through Magliano de’ Marsi and finally Rosciolo.

Abruzzo’s most famous rock face hermitage, dedicated to San Bartolomeo in Legio and just outside the town of Roccamorice, is a wonder!

With Pope John Paul II set to become officially “blessed” on the 1st of May it seemed an appropriate time to visit one of his most beloved Italian retreats

A riot of sculpted medieval expression isn’t a too common artistic phrase but one fully operational at Pescara’s church of San Tommaso Becket deep in the Majella

The Oratorio of San Pellegrino in Bominaco next to the hillside pine-clad Romanesque church of Santa Maria Assunta is quite simply a beautiful wonder

S. Pietro d’Albe is one Abruzzo church that epitomises that blend of bewitching natural setting with antiquity which Italy, the living museum, is so famous for.

Teramo’s Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta & San Bernardo, it’s positively Zen-like compared to some of the fleshier marble clad church interiors & worth a visit