OK, I promise this is the last blog posting for a while, but I was wayyyy behind! Those who have followed the blog from its beginnings know how much I love this place with its 360 degree views of Abruzzo and the southern Marche. This was the last fort to fall during the italian war of unification and was located at the border of the Papal state and the 2 Sicilys. The western flank of the fort is right at the edge of a 100+ foot cliff with views to the Piselli mountains. To the south lie beautiful hills, Gran Sasso, the tallest mountain in southern Italy and the Camicia mountains to the east of Gran Sasso. To the north you can see all the way to my town of Offida and the Adriatic sea and the coastal towns are visible to the east. The fort is large and wonderfully restored with a nice museum and gift shop and the little town of Civitella below the fort is cute with a nice plaza and a fine restaurant in the plaza's hotel, Zunica. It is about a 45 minute drive from Nascondiglio di Bacco. This trip I shared the place with Fabio and Maggie.
Master photographer Maggie, taking pix to the south before the entrance.
The outer wall, just opened to the public, this walkway goes all the way to the western end of the southern wall, now with an entrance further down into the upper fort.
Olive grove and abandoned, crumbling farmhouse to the south
Bacco is well trained!
The old captain's quarters
The recent renovation has opened up many more of the internal rooms.
Gran Sasso
Looking west from the eastern part of the fort towards Mt. Piselli
A place for summer concerts
There's a 50 foot drop here.
Southern view from the fort
Finally, here is the info from my new friend Anne for those who are interested in great Umbrian tours and keeping up on italian sites in general at her blogsite:
www.annesitaly.com
And do sign up for Italian Notebook, a great website for Italophiles - she contributes regularly.
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