Abruzzo holiday house: Pacentro

My partner and I had such a wonderful time in Pacentro. The village was so picturesque and the villagers so friendly. We speak a little Italian and soon made friends with the local people who seemed to be genuinely pleased to see us in their beautiful village, they really made our stay memorable. It was great just wandering through the narrow streets to the house and as Pacentro is set in the Majella National Park, using the trecking map in the house we were able to organise beautiful long circular walks directly from the village. We also took the very handy bus into the nearest big town Sulmona for market day which was quite an experience. They sell absolutely everything, from designer bags to garden plants. We bought some wonderful Pecorino cheese from an old lady selling her own produce. We also made a round trip on the bus to the scenic mountain village of Scanno where the women still wear Turkish Costumes! Otherwise we just stayed in Pacentro. It had everything we wanted. Good walks, a lovely garden to sit in, bank, Post office, food shops and really wonderful bars and restaurants. We also hired mountain bikes from the Tourist Information Office in Pacentro, they cost just €5 an hour and we went on some fantastic cycle rides up into the National Park, the terrain is very steep and it was quite hard going but the views from the top of the mountain were stupendous and well worth the effort. We were totally self-sufficient using public transport, flying into Rome we spent two nights there seeing the sights, and then took a bus from Tiburtina station in Rome to Sulmona. It was lovely riding through the Appenines with stupendous views and not having to worry about driving. We caught a connecting bus up to Pacentro as Mary suggested, it was great not having to pay for car hire, which is a real added expense and we felt that we got to know the area a lot better through using public transport, we would highly recommend it.