Penne, Loreto Aprutino, Pianella, Tocco da Casauria are serene and harsh villages at the same time, full of art, history; framed by ridges covered with olive trees and vineyards, and open towards the cobalt blue of the Adriatic Sea.
First Day
Penne rises on a hill, where the view stretches to the Gran Sasso. It is a village all ups and downs, with beautiful manor houses. Of great interest are the Porta San Francesco from 1780; the Cathedral and the nearby Museum; the churches of Sant’Agostino, dell’Annunziata (among the most beautiful of the 18th century Abruzzo), San Giovanni Evangelista and San Domenico. A road about 5 km long descends from the village and leads to Lake Penne, which has become a Regional Nature Reserve, where several species of resident and migratory birds find refuge in its 150 hectares. Here, WWF has also created an Oasis, inhabited by foxes, badgers, wild boars, martens, wild cats, skunks, and weasels.
There is also a Visitor Center, an Environmental Education center, a Botanical Garden, a Butterfly Garden, and an important otter repopulation center, the true attraction of the park, which adults and children can admire from behind a glass window, when they dive into the clear waters of the lake, performing chases and underwater acrobatics, a true spectacle! From Penne, following the hilly road, you reach Loreto Aprutino, considered the small capital of Aprutino-pescarese PDO extra virgin olive oil.
Of early medieval origins, the village preserves architectural treasures, such as the 14th-century church of San Pietro Apostolo, on the top of the hill; the Palace of the Acerbo barons, with the largest collection of ancient Abruzzese ceramics; the 13th-century church of San Francesco and the Chiola Castle, transformed into a boutique hotel.
Second Day
To the southeast of Loreto, still along the hilly road, you can reach the village of Pianella, which houses the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, built in the 12th century by Benedictine monks on a hill not far from the center. Outside, an elegant brick bell tower, the rose window, and the Casaurian-style portal stand out. The interior instead boasts a very rich limestone pulpit, created by Master Acuto at the beginning of the 13th century and decorated with the symbols of the four evangelists.
To the southwest of Pianella, in San Clemente a Casauria, near the village of Tocco, nests the most famous abbey of Abruzzo, of very ancient origins: in fact, the foundation dates back to 871 AD. Looted by Saracens and Normans, it was rebuilt at the end of the 12th century. The portal and the portico preserve extraordinary bas-reliefs. Also very elegant are the pulpit, the altar made from a Roman sarcophagus, and the crypt. San Clemente is also a historic place, here the Chronicon casauriense was written, considered a fundamental document for the knowledge of medieval Europe, and today preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
