“There’s a legend about these mountains,” Tiziana told me. “The story goes that Maya, the Greco-Roman Goddess of The Earth, came here searching for a flower to heal her sick son, but failed to reach the top before he died. She died in sorrow for her loss and reappeared in the form of the rounded mountains, which make up the Maiella chain, or Sleeping Beauty. Her son reappeared as the jagged range opposite her, the Gran Sasso, or Sleeping Giant.”
At Civitella di Tronto, I got my best views of this landscape from an 11th century fortress, one of the largest in Europe. On a high vantage point of a long pale stone walkway, I looked out and imagined warriors preparing for battle as they spotted attackers cresting the faraway rises.
As there are over 1000 castles in Abruzzo, I also traipsed around (with a scrumptious gelato in hand) the Capestrano castle, named for its native warrior, San Giovanni di Capestrano. A mission in Southern California is named after this same Abruzzese saint. In fact, the connection between America and Abruzzo is strong. Over one million people migrated from this region in the early 20th century, and many settled in the states, including ancestors of celebrities like Madonna, Dean Martin, Rocky Marciano, Henry Mancini, and Alan Alda.
My most elegant castle experience was in Loreto Aprutino, where a majestic building from 864 has been converted to become the Castello Chiola Hotel. Dining in what was once the courtyard (now skylighted and featuring a glass elevator to reach the posh accommodations upstairs), was a chance to immerse myself in an atmosphere fit for royalty and taste Abruzzo’s delicious mountain cuisine: a warm pecorino cheese pie surrounded by slices of salami, baked spaghetti “chitarra” (named because it’s cut with a tool resembling guitar strings), and lamb stuffed with artichoke.
The food was outstanding everywhere, showcasing the products of Abruzzo’s forests and farms: sausages spiced with hot pepper, goat ricotta cheese, guinea fowl, roasted kid, fresh pasta, and rough crusted airy bread. Exotic flavors accented our meals, like red garlic from Sulmona, a knock-me-out custard flavored with saffron (that grows abundantly in the Aburzzo hills), and ratafia—a bitter cherry liqueur. All was accompanied by deep and gusty Montepulciano D’Abruzzo red wines, along with Cerasuolo, a delicate rose, and Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, a crisp white.
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