Italy Apennines Tour 2016

La Dolce Vita in Abruzzo

The sweet life of pleasure is what we experienced in a rambunctuous two weeks touring the northern part of the province of Abruzzo (Teramo) on Italy’s Adriatic (eastern) Coast. We stayed in the 400 person village of Valle San Giovanni in four comfortable houses for this largely hub and spoke tour. The four homes were occupied by:

– the wild but kind women of the Piazza House – Jean M, Dawn M, Faye W, and Janet L,

– the can’t wait to go avanti foursome of Anita’s aunt’s penthouse – John H and Evelyn H, Diane F, and Maureen W,

– the rooftop terrace party hosts in the Blue House – Robin H and Dan C, Flavia and David K, Jim B, and Mike H and lastly

– the Terracottas of the house by the same name – Wayne H and Lois R, Andrew H and Ray D. We all enjoyed a wonderful reception from Anita and Gord Lister and the village residents of Valle San Giovanni (Anita’s ancestral village) whether the barber, bartender, grocer or wine merchant.

Valle San Giovanni is situated equidistant (25 km) from both the Adriatic Sea to the East and the Gran Sasso Mountain to the West, the highest peak in the Appenine Mountain range which forms the backbone down the Italian peninsula. The rides were thus all very scenic often offering spectacular views of the mountains.

One rain day, two rest days and 8/9 days of intermediate level cycling to this impressive diversity of destinations.

1. Castelli – the scenic ceramics center at the foot of the Appenine Mountains where we had lunch in the historic center

2. Guilianova – a sunny Sunday afternoon spent in this beach resort town

3. Cortino – the hill climb day into the mountains where we stopped at a roadside deli which offered several specialty and homemade items such as lonze, salamini, salsicce dolci.

4. Capanelle Pass – which followed a river valley into the mountains – only lightly trafficked – lunch at Montorio market day – many of us had porchetta buns.

5. Civitella del Tronto (beautiful well preserved and maintained hill top town) and Torano Nuovo (tour of and overnight stay at winery – the Agriturismo Pepe) to the north

6. On return day to Valle San Giovanni stopped in the town of Campli, an historic religious center. Evening trip into the provincial capital of Teramo for a spectacular feast at the local tennis club.

7. After the second rest day we were cycling back to the coast to spend the afternoon in Silvi, another beach resort town on the Adriatic further south and to stay overnight at the thoroughly charming agriturismo, Le Macine, on the hill overlooking the dramatic coast scenery. An impressive dinner here as well.

8. On the return day to Valle San Giovanni we stopped in Atri to have our picture taken for the local press in front of the cathedral and take part in their market day.

9. Self guided cycling or group walk to neighboring village

The two rest days were opportunities for a dynamic try it yourself cooking class with Vincenza in Italian with translation by Flavia and for visits to local clothing manufacturers particularly the family run cycling outfit manufacturers Steva.

We were very pleased with our rental bikes, particularly the light weight carbon frames, which Gordon provided and maintained. He is well experienced in leading rides and managed the riding days with humour and finesse. He was ably assisted in managing the group by the invaluable Anita who drove a car which was indispensable to provide assistance to riders in various ways. Other drivers who assisted at times were Flavia and David, Gordon, Dan and Robin.

Hills were not extreme (walking only required by some for one short 100 m stretch), road surface conditions were mostly good but did require attention to surface level changes at times for those with thinner tires. Wine was plentiful and food abundant.

A big thank you to Dan and Robin, who organized this tour for the CCCTS. Their diligence and patience was much appreciated by all.

Many thanks to Anita and Gordon for their relentless energy in keeping up with the large group’s numerous enquiries and requests and for keeping an eye out for everyone’s wellbeing and enjoyment. We look back fondly at this wonderful experience of their sharing their corner of Abruzzo with us.