Skiing in Abruzzo – snow report
The most popular ski resorts, the updated snow report and useful information on how to find lifts or book accommodation for your winter holiday
By car
Getting there
- From the A14: Val di Sangro exit, then the Sangro valley road towards Atessa, Bomba and Villa Santa Maria.
- From Lanciano: the SS 84 Frentana climbs towards Casoli, Gessopalena, Torricella Peligna and Taranta Peligna.
- From Rome: A24–A25 to Pescara, then the A14; or from Castel di Sangro to Pizzoferrato and Villa Santa Maria.
The village
Atessa 435 m
Altitude
435 m
Municipality
Atessa
The largest town in the middle Sangro valley grew from two Lombard villages, Ate and Tixa, joined around the cathedral of San Leucio. Besides a 1418 monstrance by Nicola da Guardiagrele, the cathedral keeps in a reliquary the legendary ‘dragon’s rib’ of the beast said to have been slain by Saint Leucius.
Things to do
- The Lago di Serranella reserve
- Lake Bomba, a quarter of an hour away
- Lanciano
- The sea between Fossacesia and Vasto
Did you know? Legend has it that the dragon lived by the Rio Falco descent, next to the church of San Giovanni Battista, one of the oldest in town, already mentioned in 998 in the Chronicon Vulturnense.
Local food
- Altino sweet pepper — Small red horn peppers, dried on strings and ground: a Slow Food Presidium.
- Cavatelli and tacconelle — Homemade pastas of the Chieti area, with meat sauce or with pulses.
- Pallotte cacio e ova — Meatless balls of bread, eggs and cheese, fried and then simmered in tomato sauce.
Useful numbers
- Municipality of Atessa: 0872 850421
- Nature reserve Lago di Serranella: 333 797 1892
- Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118
- municipality website
Where to eat in Atessa
- Farina del Mio Sacco (cucina vegana) Via Cavalieri di Vittorio Veneto, 21, Atessa · 392 181 1616
- Trattorias and restaurants in Atessa: search on TripAdvisor
The village
Bomba 424 m
Altitude
424 m
Municipality
Bomba
The village looks down on the lake created in 1957 by diverting the Sangro, now a place for walks, fishing and water sports. It is the birthplace of the brothers Bertrando and Silvio Spaventa, philosopher and patriot: their family home and the monument to Silvio in Piazza Matteotti recall them.
Things to do
- Atessa and the dragon’s rib
- Villa Santa Maria, home of cooks
- Roccascalegna castle
- Sweet peppers from nearby Altino
Did you know? On Monte Pallano, on the border with Atessa and Tornareccio, stand the Cyclopean walls of ancient Pallanum, now an archaeological park; in the village the Ethnographic Museum recreates a farmhouse in six rooms.
Local food
- Altino sweet pepper — Small red horn peppers, dried on strings and ground: a Slow Food Presidium.
- Sagne e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) — Homemade flour-and-water pasta cut into pieces and cooked with chickpeas: a humble, tasty mountain first course.
- Cavatelli and tacconelle — Homemade pastas of the Chieti area, with meat sauce or with pulses.
Useful numbers
- Municipality of Bomba: 0872 860116
- Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118
- municipality website
Where to eat in Bomba
- Trattorias and restaurants in Bomba: search on TripAdvisor
The village
Roccascalegna 430 m
Altitude
430 m
Municipality
Roccascalegna
The castle, clinging to a rock spur above the Rio Secco valley, is one of the most photographed in Abruzzo: a Lombard watchtower that became a fortress, restored after 1985 when the last feudal lords gave it to the town. The name is said to come from the ‘fortress with the wooden ladder’ that climbed from the village to the tower.
Things to do
Did you know? Legend says that in the mid-17th century Baron Corvo de Corvis forced his vassals to worship a black crow: anyone who refused ended up in the castle dungeons.
Local food
- Cavatelli and tacconelle — Homemade pastas of the Chieti area, with meat sauce or with pulses.
- Pallotte cacio e ova — Meatless balls of bread, eggs and cheese, fried and then simmered in tomato sauce.
- Sagne e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) — Homemade flour-and-water pasta cut into pieces and cooked with chickpeas: a humble, tasty mountain first course.
Useful numbers
- Municipality of Roccascalegna: 0872 987111
- Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118
- municipality website
Where to eat in Roccascalegna
- Trattorias and restaurants in Roccascalegna: search on TripAdvisor
The village
Gessopalena 654 m
Altitude
654 m
Municipality
Gessopalena
The old village stands on a gypsum spur above the Aventino valley: destroyed by the Germans in 1943, it is now the ‘Museo Borgo del Gesso’, an open-air museum of stone houses and crystalline rock. In the new village the church of the Raccomandati keeps the Romanesque doorway of the destroyed Sant’Egidio.
Things to do
- Torricella Peligna, a few minutes away
- Roccascalegna castle
- Lama dei Peligni and the Majella chamois
Did you know? The old village is a place of remembrance: a farmhouse hosts the Brigata Maiella Foundation, and the village is the setting for the Good Friday procession and the summer ‘notte bianca’.
Local food
- Sagne e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) — Homemade flour-and-water pasta cut into pieces and cooked with chickpeas: a humble, tasty mountain first course.
- Pallotte cacio e ova — Meatless balls of bread, eggs and cheese, fried and then simmered in tomato sauce.
- Lamb with egg and lemon — Lamb stew finished with egg and lemon, the Easter dish of L’Aquila.
Useful numbers
- Municipality of Gessopalena: 0872 988112
- Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118
- municipality website
Where to eat in Gessopalena
- Trattorias and restaurants in Gessopalena: search on TripAdvisor
The village
Torricella Peligna 910 m
Altitude
910 m
Municipality
Torricella Peligna
The highest village in the middle Aventino valley, at 910 metres, facing the Majella. It is where the family of John Fante, the American author of ‘Ask the Dust’, came from: in late August the festival ‘Il dio di mio padre’ (‘The God of My Father’) remembers him with readings, guests and the John Fante First Novel Prize.
Things to do
- The Cavallone cave at Taranta Peligna
- Gessopalena and its open-air museum
- Palena and the Majella
- Skiing on the Majella
Did you know? For the feast of San Marziale and San Rocco, from 12 to 16 August, children parade in costume in memory of the martyrdom of the boy Saint Martial; just outside the village stands the 16th-century shrine of the Madonna delle Rose.
Local food
- Sagne e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) — Homemade flour-and-water pasta cut into pieces and cooked with chickpeas: a humble, tasty mountain first course.
- Lamb with egg and lemon — Lamb stew finished with egg and lemon, the Easter dish of L’Aquila.
- Pallotte cacio e ova — Meatless balls of bread, eggs and cheese, fried and then simmered in tomato sauce.
Useful numbers
- Municipality of Torricella Peligna: 0872 900110
- Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118
- municipality website
Where to eat in Torricella Peligna
- Trattorias and restaurants in Torricella Peligna: search on TripAdvisor
The village
Taranta Peligna 460 m
Altitude
460 m
Municipality
Taranta Peligna
A small village in the Majella Park on the upper Aventino, known for the Cavallone cave: at 1,475 metres on the wall of the Taranta valley, it is reached by a cable lift and visited for about 800 metres through halls of concretions, named after D’Annunzio’s ‘The Daughter of Iorio’.
Things to do
Did you know? On 2 February, for Candlemas, people bake the holy bread called ‘panicella’; the village coat of arms shows a tarantula, a play on the name, which until 1881 was Tarantola.
Local food
- Sagne e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) — Homemade flour-and-water pasta cut into pieces and cooked with chickpeas: a humble, tasty mountain first course.
- Lamb with egg and lemon — Lamb stew finished with egg and lemon, the Easter dish of L’Aquila.
- Pecora alla callara — Mutton cooked for hours in a copper cauldron with herbs and chilli, the shepherds’ dish.
Useful numbers
- Municipality of Taranta Peligna: 0872 910118
- Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118
- municipality website
Where to eat in Taranta Peligna
- HidFood – Rifugio Grotta del Cavallone presso la Grotta del Cavallone, Taranta Peligna · 375 562 2196
- Trattorias and restaurants in Taranta Peligna: search on TripAdvisor
The village
Villa Santa Maria 390 m
Altitude
390 m
Municipality
Villa Santa Maria
The ‘Home of Cooks’: since the 17th century, when the Caracciolo family set up a school for court cooks here, the village has trained generations of chefs and today has a catering college. Saint Francis Caracciolo was born here in 1563, patron saint of Italy’s cooks since 1996; Palazzo Caracciolo houses the Cooks’ Museum.
Things to do
- The Abetina di Rosello fir forest
- The Cascate del Verde waterfalls at Borrello
- Pizzoferrato and its rocks
- Lake Bomba
Did you know? In the lower part of the village, by the Sangro, the shrine of Santa Maria in Basilica recalls the early medieval monastery that gave the village its name, already mentioned in 703 in the Chronicon Vulturnense.
Local food
- Pallotte cacio e ova — Meatless balls of bread, eggs and cheese, fried and then simmered in tomato sauce.
- Cavatelli and tacconelle — Homemade pastas of the Chieti area, with meat sauce or with pulses.
- Lamb with egg and lemon — Lamb stew finished with egg and lemon, the Easter dish of L’Aquila.
Useful numbers
- Municipality of Villa Santa Maria: 0872 944416
- Nature reserve Abetina di Rosello: 0872 948444
- Nature reserve Cascate del Verde: 0872 945022
- Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118
- municipality website
Where to eat in Villa Santa Maria
- Trattorias and restaurants in Villa Santa Maria: search on TripAdvisor
The village
Pizzoferrato 1,251 m
Altitude
1,251 m
Municipality
Pizzoferrato
The highest village in the area, at 1,251 metres, beneath the limestone ‘Pizzi’ rocks that give it its name; the ducal palace stands on the old castle. In the valley, under a cliff, the little church of San Domenico in Silvis guards the cave where the hermit saint lived.
Things to do
- The Abetina di Rosello fir forest
- The Roccaraso ski slopes
- Palena and the Majella
- Villa Santa Maria, home of cooks
Did you know? Bruno Sammartino, the American wrestling legend, WWWF world champion for almost eight years, was born here in 1935.
Local food
- Lamb with egg and lemon — Lamb stew finished with egg and lemon, the Easter dish of L’Aquila.
- Pecora alla callara — Mutton cooked for hours in a copper cauldron with herbs and chilli, the shepherds’ dish.
- Sagne e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) — Homemade flour-and-water pasta cut into pieces and cooked with chickpeas: a humble, tasty mountain first course.
Useful numbers
- Municipality of Pizzoferrato: 0872 946114
- Nature reserve Abetina di Rosello: 0872 948444
- Emergencies and mountain rescue: 112 · 118
- municipality website
Where to eat in Pizzoferrato
- Trattorias and restaurants in Pizzoferrato: search on TripAdvisor
At the table
Food and traditions
Local dishes and products, with the recipes and guides on our site.
In the Sangro and Aventino valleys the food is that of the Chieti hinterland: sagne with chickpeas, cavatelli, cheese-and-egg balls, lamb with cheese and egg, and sweet peppers from nearby Altino. In Villa Santa Maria the tradition of cooks is at home.
- Sagne e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) — Homemade flour-and-water pasta cut into pieces and cooked with chickpeas: a humble, tasty mountain first course.
- Cavatelli and tacconelle — Homemade pastas of the Chieti area, with meat sauce or with pulses.
- Pallotte cacio e ova — Meatless balls of bread, eggs and cheese, fried and then simmered in tomato sauce.
- Lamb with egg and lemon — Lamb stew finished with egg and lemon, the Easter dish of L’Aquila.
- Altino sweet pepper — Small red horn peppers, dried on strings and ground: a Slow Food Presidium.
- Pecora alla callara — Mutton cooked for hours in a copper cauldron with herbs and chilli, the shepherds’ dish.
- Sise delle monache — Guardiagrele’s pastry: three-peaked sponge filled with custard and dusted with icing sugar.
- Colline Teatine PDO olive oil — The extra virgin oil of the Chieti hills, between the Majella and the sea, from the Gentile di Chieti olive.
- Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC — The region’s signature red, from the Montepulciano grape: with arrosticini, lamb and mutton.