Mike’s birthday is just a few days before mine. So, every year we have about four days when we are the same age. This year, Mike’s birthday fell on a Thursday, and mine on a Monday. It sounded to us like a long weekend was in order, especially since major work on our apartment was finished.
After a little research, we settled on exploring the countryside around the towns of Avezzano, Alba Fucens, and Celano, which are just about an hour away. I had done my usual Google and Booking .com searches, as well as scouring past issues of the Abruzzo Magazine, and suggested we stay at a diffused hotel called Antico Borgo di Albe.
Both of us were so excited to be taking off for a few days. We’d been working hard to get our new apartment in shape, to make it feel like home. So now we could confidently close it up and leave for a while. We packed up the car, locked the doors, and took off with smiles on our faces. Until…
Since it was Mike’s birthday, I decided to drive so that he could enjoy the scenery. We got on the Autostrada, took a deep breath, and off we were – for about five minutes. Suddenly, every yellow and red light on the dashboard lit up. Uh oh. So we left the highway at the next exit, and headed straight to our friendly mechanic in Citta’ Sant’Angelo. He took one look at the situation and said, “It’s the battery.” Well, the battery was only two years old, but apparently it was a very small one that the dealer had installed when we bought the car. Twenty minutes later, we had a new, larger battery and were off on the road again. We were hoping that this was not an indication of how the rest of the weekend would go. It wasn’t.
The drive up to the hills was very pleasant. The hilly and winding roads and the views are so beautiful. We do miss seeing them. Our first stop was Avezzano, and we were hungry. Avezzano is a good-sized town, of about 42,000 people. There is a town square with shops and restaurants. We found a small middle Eastern restaurant where Mike had a gyros and I had falafel sandwich.
Then we set out to see the tunnels of Claudius. We did find it, but it was closed. There was a guide there, who said we needed an appointment. So we walked around a bit.
Then we headed to the ruins of Albe Fucens, a city founded by the Romans in 303 B.C.
A dirt road climbs to the church of St. Pietro, built in the 12th century on top of a 3rd century temple to Apollo. The church was closed, but we walked around it and read signs (in English) about its history. We walked back down the hill to the ruins of the city, and explored the amphitheater, which was built around 38 A.D. At its peak, about 6,000 people lived in the city. It was a strange feeling to walk on the roads that were once walked on by people over 2,000 years ago.
Then it was time to find our hotel, which was about 5 minutes away. Thank goodness for Google Maps. When we arrived, there didn’t seem to be anyone there. But Antonello greeted us with a warm welcome. He apologized that there was no chef, and he explained that the main building had been struck by lighting a couple of days ago, damaging much of the equipment. He took us to our room, up two flights of irregular stone stairs. The hotel has 12 rooms, and we were the only guests.
The hotel is a “diffused” hotel, meaning that the rooms were built in renovated medieval row houses. Our room was quite comfortable, with a lovely view of the valley below. It was furnished with typical period pieces and the bedspread was a traditional Abruzzese style.
We unpacked, took a nap, and walked down to the main office to ask about dinner. Antonello was most apologetic since the kitchen was not available due to the electrical problems. He offered to make us a dinner reservation at an osteria in Avezzano, and we gladly accepted. Good choice!
The name of the restaurant is L’Osteria di Corrado. It’s family owned and operated and we were treated like family. The owner was most gracious, the waitress spoke a little English (and was happy to have someone to practice with). We talked about family and I showed her a photo of our daughter Kate with grandson Frank who had both just received their Italian passports. I thought it was cute that she asked how old Frank is (he’s only 13). Dinner was amazing – be sure to look at the photos. Afterward, we headed back to the hotel and fell sound asleep.
Friday morning, we headed to the restaurant for breakfast around 9:00 and Antonello again apologized for not being able to provide a full breakfast. We did have some good coffee and rolls.
He then offered to escort us up to the ruins of the Orsini castle, a short walk up the hill from the hotel. There we saw the ruins of the 14th century castle and the 12th century church St. Nicola along with many other buildings. The castle had been a residence for counts and was a political center in Albe.
Antonello graciously offered to call the park office that managed the tunnels of Claudius and see if he could arrange a guide for us. Yes, no problem. So we set off again to see the tunnels.
Neither of us can remember our guide’s name, but he was very nice and spoke a little English, although we mostly used Google Translate to be sure we got the full understanding of what we were seeing. We walked down steps 300 meters into the deepest part of the tunnel. It is truly an engineering marvel.
In ancient times, Fucine Lake was a large lake with no natural outflow. The lake provided fish and fertile soil but was also the source of malaria and frequently flooded, so the Romans tried to drain the entire basin.
To accomplish this ambitious goal, Roman Emperor Claudius commissioned the construction of a system of canals, tunnels, and wells between 41 and 52 CE. Over 30,000 slaves and workmen are believed to have manually dug the tunnel system.
The main underground canal is a little over three miles (six kilometers) long and was the longest tunnel of its time, until the construction of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel in 1871. The hydraulic works allowed water to flow out of the Fucine Lake into the Liri River on the other side of the mountain.
Thanks to these works, the water level was lowered, but never completely emptied. After the fall of the Roman empire, lack of maintenance and earthquakes damaged the structures and the lake returned to previous levels, before being drained in 1878.
We were hungry and stopped at a roadside restaurant and enjoyed a meal with a local artisan beer. Then headed home for a shower and a nap.
That evening we met the owners of the hotel, Pina and Gianlucca, and their son Alessandro (aged 7), who had just returned from their family vacation. We enjoyed talking with Pina, who is Canadian/Italian and speaks fluent English. She explained the restaurant’s menu to us, and we enjoyed a delightful meal on the veranda of the hotel.
Saturday morning Pina baked a delicious coffee cake and fresh cornetti for us for breakfast, then cooked eggs too. Of course, Mike was very happy to have eggs. We talked with her about what to do that day and Sunday. She offered to make a dinner reservation for us on Sunday, our last evening there, at a restaurant called La Torre, which is near the castle in Celano. Sounded good to us!
We returned to Alba Fucens for a couple of reasons. First, Mike wanted to spend more time exploring the village, which once was home to 6,000 people. Here we walked around the well-planned city, referred to as a Hippodamian orthogonal plan. Mike was particularly interested in the structure of the polygonal walls, the forum, and the market area. Also, on this second visit, we met a woman who told us that the church of St. Peter was open, so we were able to get inside. Please look at the photos.
An interesting side note is that significant statues were discovered in 1960: A statue of Venus, a statue of Hercules seated, and marble busts and bronze statuettes dated 1st century B.C., are now housed in the National Museum of Abruzzo in Chieti (on our bucket list).
Second, I had read several references to a path that followed the wall around the city. It’s about 3 kilometres, and supposedly much of the wall is still intact. We walked around much area, but couldn’t seem to find it. Then, I noticed a path that seemed to go down hill a bit and looked like it was circling a wall hidden by greenery. So we decided to risk it. And low and behold, in certain areas, we could see the wall. We just kept walking along this narrow path. Until we decided that maybe we were lost. So Mike, being a true hero, told me to stay put, and he would walk along further to see if there was another path. I waited. Until I was sure he’d been gone too long. So I headed of in the direction that he’d taken, thinking I’d either catch up with him if he turned back or I would find him lying on the ground. I came to a fairly open area and I heard a whistle. I looked up a steep hill, and, thanks to his bright blue shirt, I saw him, maybe about 50 meters up a very steep hill. I managed to crawl up there to meet him. He can tell you how he had managed to get there.
We had some water left, and I sat down in the grass. Mike said he wanted to walk a path that led up the hill some more, but I insisted he sit with me for a while. It was hot, and we needed to rest.
Then an angel appeared. At least, to me, she seemed like an angel. A young woman and her friend, both dressed in serious hiking gear and carrying a trail map, approached us. And -- she spoke a little English. When I told her that we were lost, she said that they were too. Oh, well. We asked if she knew where the amphitheater was, and she pointed in the opposite direction of where we had planned to go, and said, “that way, about 5 or 10 minutes.”
Sure enough, 10 minutes later we were standing at the second entrance to the amphitheater. Sigh of relief! We made it!
That evening was a celebration: Antonello’s birthday party. He had about 30 people come for dinner at the hotel under the canopy. We weren’t part of the group, but we did have dinner there and enjoyed watching the festivities.
Sunday morning Pina made us another delicious breakfast and told us about the restaurant where we were to have dinner that evening. We decided that since Celano is only 20 minutes away, we could to see the castle, then return to hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.
Celano Castle is a majestic fortification that dominates the Fucino Valley and the village of Celano. It was built at the end of the 14th century by the Count of Celano, then later completed and transformed into a residence by Count Piccolomini, nephew of Pope Pius II.
It is square in shape, with four crenellated corner towers. It hosts an exhibition of sacred art, divided into three thematic areas: sculpture (in wood and stone), painting (mural, on canvas and on wood) and goldsmithing. There is also an archaeological section that houses important finds that emerged during the drying up of the Fucino.
There is a small tourist information office just off the main square in Celano, which we found. The lady at the desk was very nice and told us that a tour was starting in just a few minutes. We bought our tickets and walked up a hill to the entrance to the castle. The tour guide was concerned that we didn’t speak Italian very well, and insisted on refunding our money, but said we could still tag along on the tour.
This is a very interesting castle that has been restored quite well after the devasting 1915 earthquake. We walked around the exterior of the towers and took in the magnificent views of the surrounding valley and hills. The castle proudly hosts a religious art exhibit. At first we were skeptical. But it is very well curated and contains artifacts that directly reflect life in the area centuries ago. Our photos tell it pretty well.
Afterward, we stopped for gelati at a shop on the square. Then we returned to the hotel to get ready for our birthday dinner.
Apparently, Pina had talked with the chef at the restaurant and told them to be sure to make this a very romantic evening for us. We were escorted up to the panoramic terrace and seated at a table in the corner, surrounded by heart-shaped balloons.
Our waiter, named “Bush”, greeted us warmly and said that we could order from the menu, or we could choose the chef’s choice, as he knew that this is a special evening for us and had something special planned. Of course, we elected to go with the chef’s choice – a five-course meal of seafood from the west coast. Again, the photos tell it pretty well.
The next morning Pina had breakfast for us and wanted to know all about our evening. It was fun to relive it and show her our photos.
We packed our things and headed home. It felt good to be back in our own place and thinking about our next outing.
Here's the photos, which tell the whole story: CLICK
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