Saturday June 9th, 2018
Trip by car. Our first stop is Loreto where there is a famous sanctuary. We visit it inside and walk a while in the town center. Then we stop at Recanati, Leopardi’s hometown. We see the main square, some churches and palaces and some famous spots due to Leopardi’s poems.
After lunch we go to Ascoli Piceno (we will spend the night here). The sky is cloudy. Here we see the city center: the main square with Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo, S. Francesco, S. Agostino, S. Tommaso and the roman theatre. On the opposite side of the center, there is the main church, S. Emidio where we listen to the mass. After dinner we walk a bit more in the pedestrian area.
Sunday June 10th, 2018
We go the Gran Sasso, a famous mountain and we stop at Campo Imperatore (where the road ends). I walk up till the refuge “Duca degli Abruzzi” where there is a wonderful landscape on the surrounding peaks and a bit down, Campo Imperatore. I go back to Campo Imperatore where we have lunch.
Later, a brief stop at the little church of San Pietro della Ienca (some years ago the Pope came to visit it). We reach L’Aquila. We start from S. Maria di Collemaggio and Fontana delle 99 Cannelle. In L’Aquila there was a relly strong earthquake in 2009. The signs of it are still visible around the city. There are a lot of buildings, churches, palaces under renovation. From the Cathedral we reach the spanish castle. We will spend the night in Giulianova. Before going there we stop at Isola del Gran Sasso where there is another sanctuary.
Monday June 11th, 2018
Today we visit some towns: Atri, Penne, Castiglione a Casauria and Chieti (most of the time in Chieti), before going back in the evening at Giulianova.
Tuesday June 12th, 2018
Today we leave Abruzzo and stop in Fermo, both the upper part with the cathedral and the lower part with Piazza del Popolo. Then we move to Sirolo, a small walled town, with view over the sea. Up to Monte Conero till Badia S. Pietro and in the afternoon in Ancona.
First we see the Cathedral (only outside, it’s closed when we arrive and we should wait more than 1 hour). Then the pedestrian streets with many churches and palaces. In the late afternoon we get back to the car and drive home.
