b r z z o
Abruzzo is one of the most beautiful and undiscovered regions of Italy. In addition, it boasts the title of the most protected region of the Italian national territory. 28% of its territory is the parkland: the Abruzzo National Park, the National Park of Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga, National Park of the Maiella Mountains, and the Sirente-Velino Regional Park.
After the Sangro River runs through the heart of the Abruzzo National Park and the central towns of Pescasseroli and Villetta Barrea, it arrives and rests into Lake Barrea. Its cold waters are crystal clear and create a game of irresistible colors and mirrors.
Places to visit near our winery:
o r i n o d S n g r o
In the province of Chieti, in the heart of the Costa dei Trabocchi, Torino di Sangro is a quiet seaside resort with a coastline of about six kilometres evenly divided between the sandy beach of “Le Morge” and the pebble beach of “Costa Verde”. Its beautiful seafront promenade is ideal for long walks.
o s t a d e t a b o c c h i
The “Costa dei Trabocchi” – so called for the presence of numerous “Trabocchi” – is constituted by about 60 Km of shoreline, famous throughout Italy for its naturalistic beauty and for its heterogeneity, due to the presence of low and sandy beaches, stretches of cobblestones as well as high and rocky cliff. The countries that compose this coast are: Francavilla al Mare, Ortona, San Vito Chetino, Rocca San Giovanni, Fossacesia, Torino di Sangro, Casalbordino, Vasto, San Salvo. Along this stretch of coast, “Trabocchi” are totally fixed in the water, connected to the mainland by means of a more or less stable gangways placed transversely to the coast.
e c c e t a e g o n a l N a t u r e e v e
The Lecceta di Torino di Sangro Regional Nature Reserve is a protected area situated in Torino di Sangro, a Town in the province of Chieti, and it was established in 2001. The reserve covers a surface of 175 hectares, south of the Sangro River’s mouth and close to the Trabocchi Coast. The symbol of this reserve is the Hermann’s Tortoise, even if the reason why it has become a protected area with such environmental importance since 1971, is due to the mixed Mediterranean scrub in which the holm oak is the most representative species.
i m i t e r o B r t a n n i c o
Sangro River War Cemetery (Italian: Cimitero britannico di Torino di Sangro) is a British and Commonwealth war cemetery sited by a hillside near Torino di Sangro in the Province of Chieti, Italy.
In this cemetery are buried 2,542 soldiers from the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth who died in World War II defending the shoreline near the Sangro River against the retreating German soldiers on the Winter Line.
Within the cemetery is the Sangro River Cremation Memorial, which commemorates 517 Indian soldiers cremated in accordance with their faith.[1] The marble gravestones are arranged in such a way as to form a kind of amphitheatre.
a n G i o v n n i n V e n e r e A y
The San Giovanni in Venere Abbey is situated in Fossacesia, on a hill facing the Adriatic Sea at 107m a.s.l. The monastic complex of San Giovanni in Venere consists of a basilica and a monastery, both built in the early 13th century on a small pre-existing monastery. The position is very panoramic: on a hill overlooking the nearby coast for several kilometers to the north and to the south.
e c c e t a e g o n a l N a t u r e e v e
The Regional Nature Reserve of Punta Aderci, with its homonymous rocky promontory, protects one of the most evocative and spectacular stretches of the Abruzzo coast, which alternates wide and sandy beaches with natural cliffs with bays and coves of suggestive beauty. It was the first reserve to be set up in Abruzzo in the coastal strip (1998). The Reserve extends for about 285 hectares from the beach of Punta Penna in the territory of Vasto (Ch) at the mouth of the Sinello river, on the border with themunicipality of Casalbordino (Ch).
a j e l l a
Products to taste:
r r o s t i c n i
Arrosticini are a class of traditional Abruzzese cuisine from the Italian region of Abruzzo. Arrosticini (rustelle or arrustelle in the local dialects; also known as spiedini or spiducci) are typically made from castrated sheep meat, or lamb, cut in chunks and pierced by a skewer. It is cooked on a brazier with a typically elongated shape, called furnacella as it resembles a gutter.
There are two main kinds of arrosticini: those made industrially, consisting of cubical chunks of meat with a side of 1 cm (1/2.5 inches) on skewers with a maximum length of 10 cm (4 inches); and those made by hand, for which the meat is cut with a knife in chunks of different sizes, alternated on the skewer with pieces of ovine fat. Arrosticini originate from the food consumed by shepherds and other inhabitants of the mountainous areas in Abruzzo within the villages of Castilenti, Civitella Casanova, Carpineto and Villa Celiera who were accustomed to eating even less refined food than hard sheep meat.
i s h S o u
The “Vastese” fish soup is one of the simplest and tastiest dishes of the local seafood cuisine. It is made with poor and genuine ingredients. To prepare this fish soup (“lu vrudatte” as it is called in the local dialect), in addition to the terracotta pan (“tijelle” in local dialect), are important also the oil of the Vasto hills and the hot pepper.
As for fish, according to tradition, it must be fresh, caught between Ortona and Vasto and at least five or six varieties.
Races, mullets, cuttlefish, walnuts, testone, cooked with garlic, peppers and fresh tomatoes in small pieces (a preference for the tasty mid-season Vasto tomatoes, the “mezzotempo”, but other types of tomatoes produced in the area are fine too).
Still on the on the subject of cuisine, it must be noted that Abruzzo prevails when it comes to the use of chili pepper, which is present in all the sauces. Among these maccheroni alla chitarra is the most popular dish. La chitarra is a kitchen tool that resembles a guitar, made up of a beech wood frame where the steel wires are stretched and separated by a millimeter. A sheet of dough is rolled over the strings and the result is spaghetti-like pasta.
u i t a r s a g e t t i
