2019 saw the arrival of ‘contactless’ payments hitting in Abruzzo’s supermarkets, bigger restaurants and petrol stations which is fantastic for those of us who hate carrying cash!  However to be on the safe side it is always best to still carry some Euros!

You don’t want to find yourself in the scenario of having a delicious dinner at an agriturismo and afterwards being told they don’t accept payment by card or that their card reader is down  It’s not unusual to drive to the local ATM, find that the ‘Link’ network is down and then having to drive kilometres to find another live ATM in order to pay for your meal!  Mountains mean that you don’t always travel as the eagle flies and that journey can take longer than you think!  It is not just the deep countryside where this happens, I’ve has the same thing happen in cities like Chieti and towns like Giulianova.

Author: Sam Dunham

Sam is a very lucky midlife 'mamma' to A who is 11 and juggles her work as a self-employed freelance travel and food web content manager and copywriter and EFL teacher - she is the founder of English in the Woods. She is the co-founder of the social enterprises: The Abruzzo Blogger Community and Let's Blog Abruzzo. She is currently writing the book 'Abruzzo: Folk and Food.