Restorative hiking in Abruzzo

My weekend escapes to the mountains of Abruzzo are always pleasant. But my most recent weekend jaunt was especially satisfactory. My younger son and I could both (finally) get away from the city, and with the scorching temperatures in Rome, and so the Apennine mountains in nearby Abruzzo was an excellent plan. Even more so…

Read More

A needed breath of fresh (mountain) air in Abruzzo

In the familiar tradition of all things related with 2020, autumn sucked… Usually, I make efforts to get out to our mountain escape in Abruzzo, enjoying the autumn foliage, hiking and mountain biking with my family. But 2020 has ruined all our beloved traditions, so it’s no surprise it also hampered my mountain getaways. Nevertheless,…

Read More

Hiking the Serra di Celano, Abruzzo

Not surprisingly, after our long Corona lockdown this spring, I was chomping at the bit at the idea of being able to hike once again. Nothing like being confined to one’s city apartment to accelerate daydreams of vast mountain vistas and wide hiking trails. Luckily, my family and I escaped the moment we could to…

Read More

Post-lockdown travel

As I come to grips with our post-pandemic life and beginning my travel blog once again, I’ve written in recent weeks about pre-lockdown travel and exploring Rome under the lockdown. This leads to the moment in June that (finally!) travel restrictions ended, and we could travel once again – first in our region, and then…

Read More

Let it snow … in Abruzzo

In mid-December, I had to run out to Abruzzo for some errands. I was out in the town of Ovindoli only for the day – and what an unseasonably warm day it was! There was at least a little bit of snow on the ground, but not that much for December. The ski slopes had…

Read More

Commemorating WWI soldiers in Abruzzo

On my recent ski escape, I was in Ovindoli, in Italy’s Apennine mountains of the Abruzzo region. Like most little mountain towns, Ovindoli has a memorial to the soldiers who died both in WWI and WWII. For those who know the region well, most of these towns have much longer lists for the First World…

Read More

Hiking the Celano Canyon in Abruzzo, Italy

Earlier this summer, during a particularly steamy Roman week, I found myself daydreaming constantly about a weekend escape to Abruzzo. I often get out for weekend to the town of Ovindoli, about 1 1/2 hour drive from Rome. Since the town at 1400 meters from sea level it is much, much cooler than Rome ……

Read More