Monaghan Vacations Inc

Abruzzo

Many travelers prefer the "picture postcard" beauty of the north of Italy, but to travel to Abruzzo and other southern regions is to witness an age-old Italian lifestyle that has not changed for centuries.
Here you'll find ancient beechwood forests inhabited by wolves and bears, century-old pathways still used by colorfully-attired shepherds and their flocks, ominous castles which now guard nothing but stretches of wilderness where the only sign of life might be a soaring royal eagle or a lone family of mountain goats.

Though Italians traditionally think of Abruzzo as a remote, mountainous region, its eastern border is marked by vast sandy beaches stretching along the Adriatic north and south of Pescara. Venture west from here and you will indeed soon enter the hills, which rise quickly to become the infamous Abruzzo mountains, dotted with some of the least visited and most beautiful hill towns in Italy.

Here nestled amongst the gorgeous mountains you will find our luxury cottage ready for your once in a lifetime vacation

Travocchi

A unique traditional feature of the Abruzzi coastline asre the travocchi,  - the traditional fishing huts built on piles into the azure waters of the Adriatic.

These wooden huts with their long fishing poles and nets are located along the coast between S. Vito and Fossacesia. They are generally still used by local fishermen although gentrification is taking place and some are being converted into chic restaurants.

Explore these unique structures from your luxury Monaghan cottage in Vestea

Abruzzo in Summer

Golden fields of sunflowers; fragrant lavender; cool mountain breezes; looming grey snow capped peaks; vistas as wide as you can see; azure blue skies. Paradise.

You can be in your own cottage in the center of this natural wonderland. A deluxe base to explore one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

Watch a short movie of the view you will have of this stunning land.

 

 

Speaking Italian

Italian is a wonderfully lyrical language that is entrancing to hear and wonderful to speak. It is actually not difficult to learn.

Although its fairly easy to get by in Abruzzo with just English, to get the most out of your luxury cottage vacation, Monaghan Vacations recommends that you master at least a few of the basic and courtesy phrases. We suggest you at least try a basic Italian course on CD or download it onto your iPod.

Make sure you take a good phrase book with you when you go to Abruzzo. There are many Italian English phrase books available, but we sugest that you try the Rick Steves Italian Phrase Book and Dictionary.

Use the Amazon search link to the right of this column and buy the book through the great service of Amazon.

Abruzzo Luxury Cottage Vacations

Monaghan Vacations provides the discerning traveller with a luxurious holiday experience in one of the world’s most beautiful, inspiring locations.

We’ve a totally refurbished a 200 year old Abruzzan stone farmhouse that’s been designer decorated in a deluxe modern Italian style.

The cottage sits in the wild beauty of Abruzzo’s Gran Sasso National Park surrounded by the craggy mountain tops often snow covered.

The National Parks abound in cool green forests, crystal clear lakes and mumoring waterfalls. The forests are criss crossed with well preserved hiking paths and horse trails. In some cases mountain biking is also allowed.

Across the rolling valleys of sunflowers and vineyards are the historic hilltop towns of Penne and Vestea. Ancient stone houses, narrow cobbled streets and wide piazza's lined with cafes. Here you can sit at outside tables shaded by candy striped umbrellas, savoring your espresso or the campari soda waited on by tuxedo clad waiters.

The cottage is within 3 acres of gardens and olive groves. It has a private swimming pool, bocce court and all-weather tennis court. Uniquely the cottage has an outside wood burning pizza oven.

The two floor cottage has three double bedrooms  with stunning views of the mountains. On the ground floor is the eat in kitchen, separate dining room and a large living room with Bang and Olufsen sound system and HDTV. If you must keep in touch we have  installed internet access.

The cottage is not just comfortable it is ultra luxurious. You wont find heavy rustic decorations here! The cottage is airy and modern, in keeping with Abruzzo’s clarity and perfection

Abruzzo

Mountains, Adriatic Sea, rolling fields of sunflowers and saffron, vineyards, rustic hilltop towns, soaring cathedrals and shaded forests.

Spend your summer in luxurious cottage accommodation in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Delight in the warm embrace of generous, friendly people. Lie back and soak up the sun, the cooling breeze ruffling the pages of your novel and wafting the scents of lavender and rosemary.

Come enjoy a vacation you will never forget. Contact Monaghan Vacations about the availability of our cottage holidays in Abruzzo.

Abruzzan Luxury Cottage

Monaghan Vacations provides the discerning traveller with a luxurious holiday experience in one of the world’s most beautiful, inspiring locations.

We’ve a totally refurbished a 200 year old Abruzzan stone farmhouse that’s been designer decorated in a deluxe modern Italian style.

The cottage sits in the wild beauty of Abruzzo’s Gran Sasso National Park surrounded by the craggy mountain tops often snow covered.

The National Parks abound in cool green forests, crystal clear lakes and mumoring waterfalls. The forests are criss crossed with well preserved hiking paths and horse trails. In some cases mountain biking is also allowed.

Across the rolling valleys of sunflowers and vineyards are the historic hilltop towns of Penne and Vestea. Ancient stone houses, narrow cobbled streets and wide piazza's lined with cafes. Here you can sit at outside tables shaded by candy striped umbrellas, savoring your espresso or the campari soda waited on by tuxedo clad waiters.

The cottage is within 3 acres of gardens and olive groves. It has a private swimming pool, bocce court and all-weather tennis court. Uniquely the cottage has an outside wood burning pizza oven.

The two floor cottage has three double bedrooms  with stunning views of the mountains. On the ground floor is the eat in kitchen, separate dining room and a large living room with Bang and Olufsen sound system and HDTV. If you must keep in touch we have  installed internet access.

The cottage is not just comfortable it is ultra luxurious. You wont find heavy rustic decorations here! The cottage is airy and modern, in keeping with Abruzzo’s clarity and perfection

Abruzzese Cuisine

In some ways, Abruzzese cuisine is the undiscovered treasure of Italian gastronomy. While tourists rhapsodize over Tuscan cuisine and Italians wax poetic over Emilian cuisine, only the select few have so far truly delved into the flavors of Abruzzo's kitchen.

Your Monaghan Vacations luxury cottage in Vestea is a unique and convenient base to commence your gastronomic exploration of one of the world's great cuisines.

Abruzzese cooks are masters at turning simple ingredients (perhaps a handful of freshly plucked beans from the garden plot, gleaming black mussels, golden noodles) into glorious feasts. They flavor their dishes with hot chili pepper, aromatic saffron, fruity olive oil.

Like in most of Italy, pasta is the preferred Abruzzese first course, and none is as typical as maccheroni alla chitarra ("guitar pasta"): sheets of egg dough are cut using a flat rolling pin on a wooden box with strings (hence the name "guitar"). The secret is the hard wheat and the clean water of the mountains.  The sauces are usually made with ground meat of beef, pork, mutton and duck, or lamb sauce pecorino cheese and lard from pig’s cheek. Also very good is the maccheroni alla mulinara of Bisenti and the sagnacce of Teatino.

Crêpes (called scrippelle) are rolled around savory fillings, dropped into broths, or layered with cheese, vegetables, and meat before baking. Polenta is usually enjoyed with a spicy sausage ragù or hearty meat sauce. Vegetables and pulses are the base of many delicious soups. A mainly Teramo peasant tradition are the cutely named le virtù, a soup made with 7 different kinds of vegetables and pulses, 7 fresh vegetables, 7 kinds of pasta and 7 kinds of meat. Another Teramo tradition is the le scrippelle 'mbusse, the crepes/omelettes covered with chicken broth.

In the region's port cities, just-caught fish is marinated in a vinegary brine, and rich soups are concocted from dozens of types of fish and seafood.The seafood is always excellent, and always fresh. Adriatic sea fish is usually small and tasty. It's cooked in many different ways according to the traditions of the regional localities. Other piscine staples of Abruzzo cuisine are the delicious shellfish like lobster and prawns. Abruzzo's most typical regional fish dish is the brodetto, a tasty soup made with sea fish of various kinds like: prawns, codfish, sepia, mullet, soles, rockfish, smooth dogfish, cicada fish, mussels and clams. You will find this famous fish dish prepared throughout the north and south coast. The locals beleive the best is competition between the brodetto's of Giulianova and Vasto. In Vasto it is cooked in a typical earthenware dish. "Scapece" is another special fish dish of Vasto - here boneless fried fish preserved in vinegar with plenty of Navelli saffron, which gives it its yellow color.

In the mountains, shepherding remains a common way to make a living, so lamb, kid, sheep, and mountain goat are mainstays of the diet; wine, garlic, olive oil, and rosemary are favorite flavorings, especially when the source of heat is a lively wood fire.  One of the region's wonderful meat traditions is arrosticini cubed mutton grilled on open charcoal fires - tender and flavorful.

Many farm families still raise their own pigs, and free-roaming pigs yield flavorful, lean meat and tasty salumi (cured meats).

Pastries tend to be unsophisticated: olive oil is often used instead of butter, nuts or dried fruit provide bulk and flavor, and sheep's milk ricotta, a favorite in central and southern Italy, shows up in fritters and sweet cakes. The typical Abruzzo cakes are the pizza dolce, the calcionetti filled with marmelade, pine-kernels and walnuts, the fichi maritati with almonds and laurel, the sise delle monache, the cicerchiata and the croccante of almonds.

Sulmona, which is not only Ovid's birthplace and location for the beautiful Cathedral  and Churches, the Palace of Annunziata (now the municipal museum), and the interesting Piazza del Carmine with the Renaissance Fontana del Vecchi, is most famous for its confetti (sugared almonds.

Abruzzo a gourmet's paradise. Explore it all from your luxury cottage. An experience you will never forget.

Active Abruzzo

Abruzzo is the perfect place for an active vacation - cycling, trekking, horse riding...all in an area of spectacular natural beauty.

Monaghan Vacations offers a bespoke supplementary service to your luxury cottage vacation. We will devise an intinery of activities that best suits your interests and capabilities. We will make all the necessary arrangements with reputable sports equipment providers and tour operators. We'll even arrange a gourmet picnic basket lunch or evening wine tasting to make your day extra special.

Mountain Biking and Road Cycle Touring

The variety of the Abruzzan landscape encompasses two separate environments that often does not mix very easily: the seaside in all its remarkable beauty and the fascinating charm of its mountains.

The two quite contrasting landscapes are brought together by gently rolling hills. The hills and wonderful scenery, together with the relatively small amount of road traffic, make Abruzzo an ideal place for cycling enthusiasts. The slopes of Campo Imperatore and the Maielletta are just as testing as the mountain passes in the Dolomites for the fittest cyclists.

A cycle route is currently being constructed that will take in the entire Abruzzo coast (approx. 120 km). If you want to stray from the tarmac onto the more bumpy paths and routes in an attempt to discover the heights and hills of the Abruzzo region, then you'll need a mountain bike. A free guide in English is available at the tourist office in Pescara.

Information:
Abruzzo : Regional Cycling Federation
Tel. 085 4210450 - 085 4221647

Specialist Cycle Tours:
AbCycles
Ciclismo Classico

Horse Riding Tours:
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced rider, this region simply offers everything. There are a number of well established riding tracks and trails and ranches where you will find well qualified riding instructors. We can arrange English speaking trek guides. In addition to horse trekking and short excursions, there is a national endurance race that takes place on Campo Imperatore at the beginning of August

Specialist Horse Trekking Tours:
Far and Ride Tours

Canoeing and Water Sports:

Canoeing and calm water swimming an be enjoyed in the crystal waters of the beautiful lakes of  Scanno, Barrea  and Campotosto.   The rivers of Tirino, Aterno, Pescara  and Sangro are also particularly suited to canoeing.

Hiking and Trekking:
There are a large number of hiking and trekking paths inside and outside the national parks, some of which are well marked. Educational paths have been established in several parks. There's everything here from a leisurely walk to a challenging peak top hike. The gentle slopes of the Maiella range and several ascents starting out from the Campo Imperatore are very popular among less experienced hikers.

Mountaineering:
The Maiella (2793 m) and Gran-Sasso Massif ranges (2912 m) offer the perfect environment for mountaineers. It's also worth bearing in mind that because the sea is much closer than in many other mountainous areas, the heights given for the Abruzzo region actually represent much steeper climbing. Corno Grande, Corno Piccolo, Pizzo d'Intermesoli and Monte Camicia are popular spots, the northeast face of the Corno Grande with a rise of 1000 m is legendary. Here alone there are around 40 different routes. The north side of the Murelle is famous for its rugged beauty in the Maiella massif range. Other highlights include the Sirente and the Serra di Celano. Climbing irons and ice axes are needed in the winter for these routes. Mountain guides and local branches of the Alpino Italiano club offer courses and expeditions.

Alpino Italiano,

Climbing and Free Climbing:
"Palestra di roccia" in Roccamorice offers 250 equipped routes in south-facing solid rock. Climbers and free-climbers will find around 800 routes in 20 different locations. The most popular faces are those at Roccamorice, Pennapiedimante, Pietrasecca, Petrella Liri, Pizzoferrato, Pietracamela, San Vito and Monticchio.


Windsurfing and Sailing:
Windsurfing enthusiasts will find a large number of suitable and picturesque spots along the long sandy coastline and the lakes (Barrea, Scanno, Bomba and Casoli) in the heart of the Apennine region.  The Lago di Campotosto (1,400 m) is particularly beautiful with its views of the Gran Sasso.

Sailors will find several large mooring places on the coast in the harbours such as Pescara Marina, Ortona, Giulianova and Vasto. Pescara marina is a large modern mooring with many berths, refueling, shower and laundry facilities and many stores and restaurants. You can rent a yacht (with or without crew) and motor launches from the many offices at the Marina.

Pescara marina:
Marina

Skiing and Snowboarding
16 different lift sites are in operation in the Abruzzo region. The most important of these are Roccaraso and Campo Felice. In the higher pistes, skiing is possible from December till April. The downhill runs of the Passo Lanciano, from where you can see the sea on a clear day, are spectacular. Skiing lessons are also available. Many of the resorts are equipped with snow-making machines. Cross-country skiers will find a large number of trails in the national parks such as Macchiarvana and Gran Sasso National Parks. The Abruzzo region is a hot destination for both beginners and experienced skiers. The tourist office has published a free guide in English in which the various resorts and pistes are described in detail.
More advanced skiers can try out exciting ski trails away from the beaten path. Trained guides are available as well as tour suggestions in the appropriate books ("Sciescursionismo fra Lazio e Abruzzo" published by Edizioni IL LUPO & Co. but in Italian).

Golf:
Golfers will also find a number of courses in the region. Thanks to the excellent conditions offered by the climate, a round of golf is possible all year round regardless of your handicap.

"Cerreto di Miglianico Golf Club" is located at the foot of the San Michele Arcangelo Chapel and commands views of the snow-covered Maiella mountain range peaks. The course was designed by the famous American architect Ronald Kirby. The 18-hole course is located in the picturesque Val di Foro (Par 72, 6184 metres long) and is suitable for all handicaps. The course also welcomes non-members, so whether you're a regular player or are interested in taking up the sport, this is a wonderful way to pass the time.

The "Circolo golf d'Abruzzo" close to Chieti is another excellent course. The course boasts a fantastic location. It is situated between small hills and lakes and is framed by the Gran Sasso and the Maiella ranges.

Italian Golf Courses:
federazione italiana golf
Golf in Europe
Miglianico Golf

Paragliding:
If you had been asked to create the perfect landscape for kite flying then the result would surely have come close to that offered by the Abruzzo region. At 42° north and situated between two seas is a chain of mountains with peaks at 2-3000 m, wide valleys and accessible by a large number of roads.

The region's complex relief offers flying enthusiasts almost perfect conditions for kite flying, paragliding, and gliding. Information about gliding is available at L'Aquila and Pescara airports. The most popular places for kite flying and paragliders are the Gran Sasso massif and the Sirente-Velino.  There are schools for kite flying and paragliding in Loreto Aprutino and Tocco da Casauria. We can set up an appointment for those that are game.

ItAli Airlines

Abruzzo is a convenient location to use as a base for your exploration of the rest of Italy. It has great travel connection options.

 

You have a number of options to travel around Italy from your luxury cottage in Abruzzo - Trenitalia regional and Intercity express trains; hire cars using the efficient autostrada network; and also the air network provided by ItAlia.

This Italian airline provides an efficient jet and modern turbo-jet service between Pescara and  both airports in Milan (Linate and Malpensa; Rome; Turin; Foggia and Reggio Calabria.

Here is the most up to date daily ItAlia Pescara timetable: (click to expand)

A summer service also joins Pescara and Olbia in Sardigna. Here is the timetable for those ItAlia flights:(click to expand)

You can use the ItAlia web site to make all your seat reservations.