Abruzzo Winter Landscapes

It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it. ~John Burroughs, "Winter Sunshine" Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone — It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it. ~John Burroughs, “Winter Sunshine”
Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
~Percy Bysshe Shelley

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” ~ Lewis Carroll Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone — “I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” ~ Lewis Carroll
Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." ~ William Blake Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone — “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” ~ William Blake
Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

“For the listener, who listens in the snow, / And, nothing himself, beholds / Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.” ~ Wallace Stevens San Giovanni in Venere - Fossacesia (Chieti) :: Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone — “For the listener, who listens in the snow, / And, nothing himself, beholds /
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.” ~ Wallace Stevens
San Giovanni in Venere – Fossacesia (Chieti) :: Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

“Thank goodness for the first snow, it was a reminder–no matter how old you became and how much you’d seen, things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered.” ~ Candace Bushnell Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

San Giovanni in Venere – Fossacesia (Chieti) :: Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

“Well, I know now. I know a little more how much a simple thing like a snowfall can mean to a person” ~ Sylvia Plath San Giovanni in Venere – Fossacesia (Chieti) :: Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

San Giovanni in Venere – Fossacesia (Chieti) :: Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone

“One kind word can warm three winter months. ” ~ Japanese Proverb Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter…. In winter the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity. ~John Burroughs, “The Snow-Walkers,” 1866 Abruzzo Winter Landscapes | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone

Altino Sweet Red Pepper at The Briganti Tavern

Art & Craft

Beware, Brigands are back! (I “briganti” son tornati)

Along the mountain track leading to the Murelle natural amphiteatre, you can see “Tavola dei Briganti” (Brigands’ slabs), a bunch of flat stones where in XIX century, bandits used to hide and fight the Savoy army. … Beware, Brigands are back! (I “briganti” son tornati)

Travel Bites

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

Why Campo Imperatore (l’Aquila) is a great ride on mountain bike…

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NewsLetters

Pizza Times :: From Naples, Pizza’s Spiritual Home, to Japanese Okonomiyaki

Pizza napoletana

Embed from Getty Images

San Gennaro, aka St. Januarius, is the patron saint of Naples, a coastal Italian city of 950,000 located 140 miles south of Rome… Where To Eat Pizza In Naples, Italy, Pizza’s Spiritual Home via Food Republic

Pizza porn

Let’s start with Okonomiyaki, Japan’s take on pizza, is hardly recognizable when compared to the Italian original… This Is What Pizza Looks Like Around the World via Condé Nast Traveler

Food & Travel

The most sensible approach to the Alpine geological wonderland known as the Dolomites is also the most evocative one… In Italy, Hiking and Haute Cuisine in the Dolomites via The New York Times

Turin could be the blueprint for the post-industrial city of the future. Once Italy’s manufacturing powerhouse… The alternative city guide to Turin, Italy | Travel via The Guardian

Delightfully yours,
OrsolaCK @Appetibilis

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

Behind the scene @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

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Cooking “agnello incaporchiato” @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

Antipasto @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

Spaghetti alla chitarra time @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

Pappardelle ai funghi @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

Travel Bites :: Love from La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65

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”.

Harvesting at “La Grande Quercia”… | photo: ©Lonza65

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Places

Enviromental Theatre and the Festival of the Gnomes

A festival designed for children, a party to celebrate nature and the forest and all its inhabitants – fairies, elves, fauns, jesters, trolls, giants… Read more: International Festival of the Gnomes… via festadeglignomi.it

§dd 08 10271210_royals — Once upon a time there was the Festival of the Gnomes… | photo: © Matelda Codagnone

“It is frightfully difficult to know much about the fairies, and almost the only thing for certain is that there are fairies wherever there are children.” ~J.M. Barrie

La festa degli gnomi è molto particolare, piena di colori e giochi, un bel modo di far trascorrere a ragazzi di tutte le età del tempo nel verde e nel rispetto dell’ambiente. Il festival si svolge tra Pescocostanzo, Roccaraso e Rivisondoli in località meravigliose come il Bosco di Sant’Antonio uno dei luoghi più belli dove poter incontrare fate, elfi, fauni, giullari, troll, giganti…

"Bocconotti" on "Abruzzo Creativo" plate

Coquinaria

#PastryNotes :: “Bocconotti di Castelfrentano” A bit of Heaven

To put it bluntly, I don’t like cakes, sweets, pastries and so forth. If I needed a treat, I’d rather go for a slice of pizza, some “pane bruschettato” or some focaccia. But. (There’s always a “but” in a categorical statement as the one above). I didn’t like sweets much until someone (may he be blessed a thousand times) introduced me to a pastry tart called bocconotto.

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Travel Bites

Off the Beaten Tracks… (but on the right way to happiness) :: Maufiki B&B

We all complain about the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We are all looking for some quiet places where we can spend some days off. … Off the Beaten Tracks… (but on the right way to happiness) :: Maufiki B&B

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Tag: destinations

Abruzzo Winter Landscapes

Beware, Brigands are back! (I “briganti” son tornati)

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

Pizza Times :: From Naples, Pizza’s Spiritual Home, to Japanese Okonomiyaki

Postcard from Italy :: Pretoro (Chieti)

Deliciously Abruzzo @ La Grande Quercia

La Grande Quercia :: Harvesting time and family recipes

Enviromental Theatre and the Festival of the Gnomes

#PastryNotes :: “Bocconotti di Castelfrentano” A bit of Heaven

Off the Beaten Tracks… (but on the right way to happiness) :: Maufiki B&B