I started the 3rd day of our Abruzzo in December trip stating that my knee was in the lovely shape of a small balloon (pity, it wasn’t colourful). Annoying, and not great to climb, but I still could walk. And I did walk; we just had to modify our ‘to do’ list.
Sorgenti del Pescara: Turquoise Waters and Weird Plants
Since the castle in Popoli stands on the hill, it wasn’t for me that day. And because we had an improvised day In Abruzzo, we decided to see the Sorgenti del Pescara—a green-and-turquoise stretch of the river in a pleasant park with benches and paths.
Beside the picturesque river, a whole colony of a strange plant growing everywhere caught my eye. I even took a photo of it and found online that it originated in England… well, in Italy it was a sort of illegal immigrant.
The path along the river was closed, but there was a wide road on the other side. We went for a walk to see where it led; after 15 minutes of wandering it turned out that it went nowhere, so we turned back. I like plants and look at them, so I spotted another floral “weirdo”—fragile trees blooming with tiny pink flowers. I’m not sure if there were blossoms; the trees had no leaves, just these pink something; some of them had yellow balls sticking out; they look really cool.
Sorgenti del Pescara is not a place to fall in love with, but it’s pretty enough to pop in when you’re around, especially when you want to have a nature day without any crazy wilderness
Then we decided to check out whether another, slightly longer road to Campo Imperatore was open.
Cocullo: Empty Streets and the Famous Snake Festival
Not really on the way, but we stopped in Cocullo—a wee place which looked nice from a distance. I was also hoping there would be a toilet—pretty often it’s a real problem when you are driving through the Abruzzo mountains. The toilets were closed, just like people in their homes; there was not a soul on the street, besides a tiny dog trying to bark. Its voice was even lower than his height—if I hadn’t looked at the dog, I wouldn’t have guessed that it was barking at me.
Like many towns in this region, Cocullo was hit by the earthquake—even if it was several years ago— it seems that it still hasn’t recovered and it’s slowly dying. It’s a shame, as this is often the fate of these small towns. But even so, Cocullo inhabitants still organize a very old Festival of the snake catchers (Festa dei Serpari di Cocullo) with snakes in the main roles.
It takes place on 1 May, and I’m guessing Cocullo is crowded on this day. My second guess is that visitors come to see it and leave without staying in the town; there are just 2 B&Bs.
Otherwise there are not many things to see in Cocullo, we couldn’t even have coffee. But there are a lot of old wooden doors in this tiny town, so if, like me, you passionately take photos of them, Cocullo is a place to go.
Closed Roads and Unexpected Traffic Jams
As we continued deeper into Abruzzo, we discovered that the second road to Campo Imperatore was also closed, but due to an accident, not snow. Well, bad luck is bad luck, so Scanno was supposed to be our next stop. I honestly don’t know what happened that day, because the usually quiet mountain roads in Abruzzo were quite busy. Where did all these people come from? The road we were travelling on was very winding, and someone had clearly decided to crawl along, dragging mercilessly and creating a traffic jam. In Abruzzo! Therefore we bypassed Scanno, as we’d already been there twice, and drove to Villetta Barrea.
Villetta Barrea is also a place I’d already visited; that time hoping to see a bear, as they occasionally appear in the park and near houses, searching for food. Of course not now; it’s winter and decent bears should hibernate, but it’s not so uncommon to see deers there even now. This time we weren’t interested in wild animals; we just wanted to have lunch and refresh our memory of what the town looks like.
Villetta Barrea in Winter: Lunch Hunt and a Miracle
It was after 3pm; the few inhabitants were burning off lunch calories by leisurely strolling around the borgo while we ran around trying to find an open restaurant. It wasn’t easy to have lunch at such an hour in a place like Barrea. We found a bar with sandwiches (I didn’t fancy sandwiches), and in the final act of our search, we got down the stairs and found an open restaurant. How can you not believe in miracles? The restaurant in the borgo was OK, and I especially enjoyed the soup.
Full but not stuffed, we were walking through narrow streets, stopped at the Belvedere Mary Anne Campana (a nice view from there), and then we reached the castle. Like many castles in Italy, there were rather picturesque ruins, but because the entrance fee was just 2 euros, we decided it was a fair price for viewing the remains. With the same ticket you can see the Bat Room and the museum of something—the Safini Civilization, if I remember well. The ruins are ruins; in Barrea they are large and remarkably well-preserved, and there is a very nice view from them.
The Bat Room With No Bats
The Bat Room has a nice name, but you won’t see even a single tiny bat there, let alone any bigger ones. The Bat Room is a room with chairs and a screen on which a video is played. Maybe it’s about bats, but in that case it should be called the Video Room. But then no one would look there. And yet, someone always drops in out of curiosity.
The Grumpy Museum Lady and Why We Skipped It
We didn’t see the museum because a very old lady working there looked as if she wanted to kill us just for showing up at the door. I got it. It was Sunday afternoon, everyone was asleep for siesta, and she was in a museum. Maybe she was an exhibit, but her expression scared us, so we just kept walking around town.
Villetta Barrea Worth Visiting? (Yes, Seriously)
Is Villetta Barrea worth visiting? In my opinion it is. The borgo is pretty big and nice, there are no bats in their room, people make faces at the sight of you. And you can see a deer and maybe even a bear. But seriously—yes, go to Barrea.
It’s a lovely town, delightfully situated on a beautiful blue lake surrounded by mountains and plenty of trails, and a large park visited by wild animals, so it’s definitely a place for a stay of even a few days. I like Barrea.
Heading Home, Dreaming of Spring in Campo Imperatore
And that was the last stop in Abruzzo during our winter weekend there. Then we stopped only for coffee on the way and later on in Manfredonia. We will see Campo Imperatore, which insisted on not visiting it this time, again in spring, when crocuses bloom and wild horses run on the hills.
