The Wonders of Abruzzo with Claudio

Today was spent in the L'Aquila area.  L'Aquila means eagle, by the way, and we actually saw an eagle fly in the area.  L'Aquila is also the government seat of Abruzzo, a mountainous and poor region of Italy.  Finally, L'Aquila was the site of a huge and devastating earthquake in 2009 which damaged countless buildings and killed more than 50 people.  The university there (University of L'Aquila) is about the same size of Auburn University (about 25,000 students) but it spread over much of the town and lacks a real campus.

Alice taught two lectures to a mix of master's students and upper undergraduates.  One lecture was on facility location using particle swarm optimization while the other was on facility floorplan design using tabu search.  The room was full of students and a few faculty and they were an excellent audience.  Outside, the air was crisp and the sun shining.

The engineering students of L'Aquila

They seem eager for Alice's lectures

Alice was happy to finally get to work on this trip

After work (in mid-afternoon) we headed with Claudio back to San Stefano for another look around.  Claudio had purchased a four story village house there many years ago, before the Swedish/Italian tycoon "discovered" the village and renovated houses to form his hotel.  Sadly, while Claudio was midway through the renovations on his house the earthquake struck.  The house is no longer livable and he (and the other villagers) are still waiting for the government to commence (and pay for) the needed renovations.

Another view of San Stefano

Claudio shows some of the damage to his house in San Stefano

Claudio also showed us this very narrow passage connecting the streets of San Stefano (and, yes, we did fit through)

Thence, we head another 10 or so kilometers into the hills for our residency of the night - Rocca Calascio.  This place is another amazing sight of Italy.  It is the location of the highest castle in all of Italy and one of the highest in Europe.  The film "Ladyhawke" (which we have not seen) was filmed there.  We stayed at a bed and breakfast (Rifugio Rocca Calascio) in the abandoned village at the top of the hill near the castle (the modern village - well, modern being 1500's instead of 1200's - is a bit further down the mountain).  Like the place at San Stefano, a couple (from Rome) decided to buy and renovate village houses to form a hotel. They now have 12 houses.  Unlike San Stefano, this place is a reasonable mix of new comforts (lighting and heating) and the old structures.  The views are breathtaking from the village but even better from the castle.

The "new" village of Rocca Calascio

The entrance to our room - the "hoopoe" - at Rifugio Rocca Calascio

View from our room's stone terrace

Our room with fireplace blazing.  We went through the entire box of firewood that evening.

We hiked to the castle at dusk. It was extremely windy and quite cold.  But, what a place!  The pictures, as nice as they are, do not do it justice.  I can only say that you must try to go there if you are in central Italy.

View on the hike to the castle

The castle waits for us

The quite elegant octagon church that sits just below the castle

Alice and Claudio in front of the church

Randy before the massive castle

Randy and Claudio discuss the view from the castle area

Alice had to use the hood of her jacket for the first time and was very glad to have it in this windy hilltop

View from the castle area

Sunset across the mountains from the castle

The church from the castle area above

The church viewed from one of the castle turret windows

The guys are happy to explore this isolated wonder

Sunset (facing west) from the castle

Facing to the east panoramic

The castle is also lit at night

That night we ate (as the only guests) at the bed and breakfast restaurant.  Before a fire, we had typical local cuisine (lamb, mutton, pork, pasta) with wine that Randy had bought from L'Aquila.  It was cozy and filling.

A fire was waiting for us in the cozy basement restaurant at Rifugio

Claudio waits for us by reading in the restaurant

The wine is stored in the ancient stone cupboard area

Before dinner

Alice's delicious gnocchi with zucchini

The next morning, Claudio showed us the nearby village of Castelvecchio Calvisio, which was also quite destroyed by the earthquake.  We then drove by another village (San Pio delle Camere) with an unusual hillside castle before dropping him at L'Aquila to teach while we headed for Sansepolcro and Urbino (the topics of my next post).  

The castle the next morning on the car ride down from Rifugio

A nearby village with views to the castle area

Castelvecchio is now only partly inhabited due to earthquake damage to the houses

A door in Castelvecchio

A village lady complains to Claudio that she is still waiting to return to her house because the government is dragging its feet about the needed repairs to the village houses

An ancient and amazing door in Castelvecchio with sphinx decoration

The hillside castle of San Pio over the village.  Note the unusual triangular shape of the castle walls.

In summary, Abruzzo and the area of L'Aquila are little visited by tourists but are full of natural and rustic historic wonders.  We were impressed with the mountains (almost like being in Colorado) and the many little touched hill towns and fortifications.  Needless to say, our appreciation and enjoyment of this area was immeasurably improved by the company of Claudio.  Claudio, not only great fun to be with, is a fount of knowledge about all things in the area - geography, history, economics, food, drink, climate, etc.  Thank you, Claudio!