Walking/rambling::
You can reach the Gran Sasso & Maiella National Parks in just 40 minutes. The National Parks cover one-third of the territory of Abruzzo, so there is an abundance of walks and trails of various lengths and levels of difficulty. You can enjoy majestic mountain scenery with a wide variety of flora and fauna, and, if you are lucky, you may spot a wild bear, wolf or chamois.
Possible walks and visits:
- Atri and the Calachi reserve;
- tour of Loreto Aprutino and Penne;
- Castelli and its surroundings - pottery and high mountains;
- Calderone glacier (the southernmost glacier in Europe);
- Along the sheep-track;
- Monastries and Hermitages;
- the capital of the region: L'Aquila;
- Teramo.
How to get here:
The nearest airport is Pescara (40km, which is a 40 min drive to Villa Degna).
The villa can also be reached from Rome (nearly 200km) or Ancona (nearly 150km).
Flights from the UK -
To Pescara: from Stansted, via Ryanair.
To Ancona: from Stansted and Liverpool, via Ryanair.
To Rome: from Dublin, East Midlands, Glasgow, Liverpool, Luton, Stansted and Shannon, via Ryanair.
from Belfast, Bristol, Gatwick and Newcastle, via Easyjet.
Flights from the rest of Europe -
To Pescara: from Barcelona and Frankfurt, via Ryanair.
To Rome: many flights
Flights from the USA -
To Pescara: from New York (May – Nov’09), via Eurofly.
To Rome: many flights
Car hire is available from Hertz.com., Avis, Europcar, Maggiore, Sixt and Auto Europa at Pescara, Ancona and Rome airports.
Abruzzo Region:
Abruzzo, set between the Appenine mountains and the Adriatic sea, is known as the 'green region of Europe', with over a third of it's surface protected.
4 National Parks, high picks for trekking (Gran Sasso), skiing resorts (Maiella mountain and Campo Imperatore), sandy and stone beaches (Pineto, Torre di Cerrano and S.Vito Chietino), lots of medieval towns on top of hills, handicrafts, museums and a lot more. There are some local products such as 'arrosticini' (skewered barbecued mutton), truffles, cheese (pecorino), hand-made pasta, liquors (ratafia, genziana, centerba), saffron and of course the Montepulciano D'Abruzzo and the Trebbiano white wine make it special from the 'food and wine".
In addition to all this, its central position makes it easy to reach Rome (about 2 1/2 hours by car) and you could extend your holiday to Croatia taking the ferry from Pescara!
