winter

There is no better way to brighten up and distance the memory of being cooped up during the pandemic than treating kids to some snowy sledging or snowshoe adventures in Abruzzo over the winter

Have you ever wondered which of Abruzzo’s rich and diverse wildlife stays in Abruzzo over the winter?  What techniques are used by the animals to counter the cold and ensure they have enough to eat?   Journalist Alessio Ludovici  asked Federico Striglioni the zoologist of the Gran Sasso Monti della Laga National Park to explain what happens in this important time of the year.

It seems only right that carnival chiacchiere (chatter), a super-thin sheet of dough flavoured with either rum, fried to a crisp and and and finished with an extra-large puff of icing sugar should be our marker that winter is on its last legs

It’s time to listen and hear a mash-up of the meaningful fables and prose told by one Nonna bought up to date by her grandson, retaining its original dialect with translations in English and Italian by the side

Ignore the Alps & head south to Aremogna, the preferred ski-destination for Romans & Neapolitans, where a budget family ski holiday doesn’t mean slumming it

Bostrengo is a winter rice cake that is scrumptious served as a sweet pick-me-up when you wake to a cold damp squib of a day, or as a moreish little cube to accompany a large glass of fruity red wine on a howling night when you don’t want to leave the house.

A siren’s song has been serenading Abruzzo’s countryside this week via the warm and hazy sunshine, calling the crops to break out of their winter coat

Our visit up to Poggio Umbricchio, for their fuoco on the 9 December to celebrate Loreto’s Santa Casa di Loreto, came about from reading On the Spine of Italy

Abruzzo snow clad is quite magical.  Olive trees, weighed down by snow take on a look as if the Ice Queen has just been past and her cold blast has left them quivering in a petrified stance but how about driving