Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) :: A great ride on mountain bike

Italian ethnologist Fosco Maraini, who lived and explored the East far and wide, high and low, says about Campo Imperatore, (L’Aquila), Italy: “It could undoubtedly be Tibet. It looks like Phari-Dong plain, on the way from India to Lhasa”. (I trust mr. Maraini but I snooped Phari-Dong on Google Maps and the resemblance with Campo Imperatore is really astonishing).

Campo Imperatore (l'Aquila), a small Tibet plateau at hand's reach, ideal for an excursion in #MountainBike | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone — Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila), a small Tibet plateau at hand’s reach, ideal for an excursion in #MountainBike | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

I don’t know if Maraini ever rode a bike on that plain – I hope he did – and had the same fun I had when I took a ride on Campo Imperatore last summer.

Appetibilis Chief Soryteller Lonza65 on a mission :: Campo Imperatore (l'Aquila) | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone — Appetibilis Chief Soryteller Lonza65 on a mission :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

On the coast the temperature was far above 30° C (86° F) and there, it was scarcely 20° C (68° F), so pedalling was nice and almost sweat-free. The track I rode with Bike Inside Team friends is easy and comfortable, no steep hills to climb, wide track, sheer fun .

“There's more to getting to where you're going then just knowing there's a road.” ~Joan Lowery Nixon :: Campo Imperatore (l'Aquila) - Rifugio San Francesco | photo: ©Lonza65 — “There’s more to getting to where you’re going then just knowing there’s a road.” ~Joan Lowery Nixon :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) – Rifugio San Francesco | photo: ©Lonza65

The 26-km (16,15 mi) track starts from Rifugio San Francesco and develops on the bottom of the shingle canyon all the way through Lago di Racollo and back on the tarmac road. All around you can enjoy the view of the highest peak of the Appennines (Corno Grande, 2912 m – 9553ft) and the other mountains of the range (Brancastello, Prena and Camicia).

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery - air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy.” ~Sylvia Plath :: Campo Imperatore (l'Aquila) | photo: ©BikeInsideTeam — “I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery – air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.” ~Sylvia Plath :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©BikeInsideTeam

If you forgot to bring your packed lunch with you, you can have lunch at Rifugio San Francesco or grill yourself sausages, steaks and arrosticini that you can buy at Mucciante butcher’s. They provide the grill, the fire, the meat and the drinks. You provide the fun.

Check also our Postcards from Italy :: Campo Imperatore (L’Aquila)

Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.” ~Edward Whymper :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©Lonza65

“All mountain landscapes hold stories: the ones we read, the ones we dream, and the ones we create.” ~George Michael Sinclair Kennedy :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©Lonza65

‘Intervallo” :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©Lonza65

“You don’t need to climb a mountain to know that it’s high.” ~Paulo Coelho :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©Lonza65

“The earth has music for those who listen.” ~George Santayana :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©Lonza65

“Intervallo” :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©BikeInsideTeam

“There is no such sense of solitude as that which we experience upon the silent and vast elevations of great mountains.” ~Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©Lonza65

“Rest and be thankful.” ~William Wordsworth :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) – Ristoro Mucciante | photo: ©Lonza65

“The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say” ~J.R.R. Tolkien :: Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

Places

Time Lapse: The Majella Massif

“I usually go hiking and I see landscapes change around me. Just for a change, I remained still and let the landscape come towards me.” ~Lonza65 … Time Lapse: The Majella Massif

Photography

Fine Estate :: Photos de Voyage

This summer too, is coming to a close; the longest and hottest ever. We will miss it, because, as Ennio Flaiano said:

“There is only one season: summer. So gorgeous that the others ring around it. Autumn recalls it, winter beseeches it, spring envies it and childishly tries to spoil it.” ~Ennio Flaviano

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ~Henry James
Fine Estate :: End of Summer | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Anche questa estate è ormai al tramonto, la più lunga e calda di sempre. Ci mancherà perché come ha detto Flaiano:

“Non c’è che una stagione: l’estate. Tanto bella che le altre le girano attorno. L’autunno la ricorda, l’inverno la invoca, la primavera la invidia e tenta puerilmente di guastarla.”

Una passeggiata di "Fine Estate" :: Località le Morge di Torino di Sangro (Chieti) :: End of Summer Stroll | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone — Una passeggiata di “Fine Estate” :: Località le Morge di Torino di Sangro (Chieti) :: End of Summer Stroll | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Fine Estate :: Vasto Marina (Chieti) :: End of Summer | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

"Fine Estate" ed i mosconi sono stati parcheggiati :: Vasto Marina (Chieti) :: End of Summer, parked lifeguard "moscone" | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone — “Fine Estate” ed i mosconi sono stati parcheggiati :: Vasto Marina (Chieti) :: End of Summer, parked lifeguard “moscone” | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Pedalando per lidi in una giornata di "Fine Estate" :: Vasto Marina (Chieti) :: Riding by beach clubs on an "End of Summer" day | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone — Pedalando per lidi in una giornata di “Fine Estate” :: Vasto Marina (Chieti) :: Riding by beach clubs on an “End of Summer” day | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

“Love is a bicycle with two pancakes for wheels. You may see love as more of an exercise in hard work, but I see it as more of a breakfast on the go.” ~Jarod Kintz Fine Estate :: End of Summer | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone — “Love is a bicycle with two pancakes for wheels. You may see love as more of an exercise in hard work, but I see it as more of a breakfast on the go.” ~Jarod Kintz
Fine Estate :: End of Summer | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Travel Bites

Postcard from Italy :: Pretoro (Chieti)

Postcard from Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

“Why do we think love is a magician? Because the whole power of magic consists in love. The work of magic is the attraction of one thing by another because of a certain affinity of nature.” ~Marsilio Ficino

Grigio of Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

In a stunning mountain area of Abruzzi little known to foreign visitors, within the province of Chieti [Kieti], there is the beautiful town of Pretoro – population 949. It is thought that an ancient settlement existed during the Bronze Age, whereas the current fortified borough was established sometime in the XII century…

Snow white and the seven dwarfs... Walking around Pretoro (Chieti) - Pisolo sta dormendo... | photo: ©ockstyle — Snow white and the seven dwarfs… Walking around Pretoro (Chieti) – Pisolo sta dormendo… | photo: ©ockstyle

Appetibilis Lonza65 in Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Appetibilis Deda and Giuseppe Marone in Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©Lonza65

Appetibilis friend Giuseppe Marone strolling in Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Photographing Pretoro (Chieti), so Appetibilis! | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Knock knock... Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©ockstyle — Knock knock… Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©ockstyle

Postcard from Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

Postcard from Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©ockstyle

Church of S. Andrea Apostolo - Postcard from Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©ockstyle — Church of S. Andrea Apostolo – Postcard from Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©ockstyle

Postcard from Italy :: Welcome from Grigio of Pretoro (Chieti) | photo: ©ockstyle

Travel Bites

Deliciously Abruzzo @ La Grande Quercia

§03 §03 tools_grande_quercia_lonza65 — Cooking tools @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

At La Grande Quercia, dishes follow season cycle, so menus change according to the produce available. Don’t forget to ask for their signature lamb dish, “agnello incaporchiato” [anyello incaporkiato]. It requires a few ingredients: a leg of lamb, extra-virgin olive oil, white wine, rosemary, a couple of cloves of garlic.

§05 prep_lamb_incaporchiato_grande_quercia_lonza65 — Prepping “agnello incaporchiato” @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

This recipe comes from the old days when people did not have meat very often, so when there was the chance to cook it, they used to put another pot on top (incaporchiato), so that the smell could not go out and tell the neighbours that something good was on the stove. At La Grande Quercia a heavy lid is used instead, and the stewing is perfect.

§04 grande_quercia_collage_lonza65 — Deliciously Abruzzo :: Mamma Maria @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

The true secret is mamma Maria’s cooking mastery – and the weight of the stones…

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Deliciously Abruzzo :: “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

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Deliciously Abruzzo :: “The earth has music for those who listen.” ~George Santayana | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Figs, raw ham, pecorino cheese and hot pepper-flavoured honey for a toothsome antipasto at “La Grande Quercia”… | photo: ©Lonza65

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Read more about La Grande Quercia :: Harvesting time and family recipes

Travel Bites

La Grande Quercia :: Harvesting time and family recipes

§03 DSC_2120-01_LaGrandeQuercia_GiuseppeMarone — La Grande Quercia… | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

Since I was a child, summer has always been the synonym for two things: school term end and harvesting time. Now that school days are – alas! – a faraway memory, harvesting time still retains its fascination to me, who I was brought up in a small village and I spent my summer vacations at my grandparents’ house in the countryside.

§05 DSC_2185-01_Collage_GiuseppeMarone — La Grande Quercia… | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

Recently, I had the chance to watch harvesting machines at work in the countryside around Atessa, in the acreage surrounding La Grande Quercia agriturismo (farm restaurant, i.e. a business that raises, grows and cooks its own poultry, livestock and vegetables). A quintessential locavore stop.

The name comes from the majestic oak tree just in the middle of the yard – legend says that the oak offered shelter to the Borbonic troops in the XIX century – but the area surrounding the building is worth to be looked at, too. In front of you, hillsides covered with wheat, interspersed with brush spots and olive tree plots and the village of Atessa just behind your shoulders. My idea of wheat field had to be rethought: how can you call a “field” a stretch of land that is as steep as a mountain slope?

§09 IMG_1035_Collage_MateldaCodagnone_ — Harvesting at “La Grande Quercia”… | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

Nowadays harvesting is carried out by means of harvesting machines, which save time and exertion. The job a machine can do is far more quicker than a handful of toiling and sweating man. However, the spirit of this activity remains unaffected: “as you sow, so shall you reap” is to be meant literally.

DSC00317-01_honey_lonza65 — Figs, raw ham, pecorino cheese and hot pepper-flavoured honey for a toothsome antipasto at “La Grande Quercia”… | photo: ©Lonza65

Lunch break at La Grande Quercia is quite and experience. My suggestion is that you should be fasting a week in advance before booking a table for a meal. Servings are copious – this is an understatement, I tell you – so stop fussing about diet, calories and alike and enjoy antipasto all’italiana, peperoncino-flavoured bread rolls, pappardelle, chitarra al ragù, and all the season suggestions… But this is another story, untill then “Bon Appetibilis”.