Coastal hill towns of Abruzzo, Part 2
Silvi Paese
Hard to find on a map and better known as 'paese' rather than 'alta', Silvi Paese is only about 11 miles north of Pescara. It is also extremely close to the sea and to Silvi Marina which means that the views of the coastline from Silvi Paese at 800 feet of elevation are much more dramatic than for the other hilltop towns.
The Belvedere terrace is a great place to enjoy these views today but its purpose for centuries was the initial lookout point for Turkish marauders and pirates and, once spotted, Silvi would be the first in a long line of hilltop towns to light warning bonfires.
It's a very compact hilltop town but there's a buzz about it with much more of a summer maritime feel than Atri, even on a Sunday in early October, and clearly the coveted space here for Sunday lunch is an outside table at Osteria della Loggia with an infinity pool type view of the Adriatic.
All the voices we heard during our visit were Italian, reminding us once again of the key advantage that Abruzzo has over Tuscany where a lovely town like this would be besieged with foreign tourists. Monteriggioni comes to mind as a place near Siena that has now been repurposed solely for tourism so, while it is beautiful when seen from the outside as you approach the town, once inside it is basically a collection of gift shops and restaurants catering to a heaving mass of tourists. Silvi Paese on the other hand remains remarkably normal and still inhabited by locals in spite of its fabulous location.
There are only a few parking spots at the entrance to the village, next to the church of San Salvatore, but we had no trouble finding a space; quite a contrast to just about every town on the Riviera di Levante in Liguria where on any Sunday of the year, even in winter, it is nearly impossible to park unless you arrive before 8.00 am. Perhaps I shouldn't be writing so much about Abruzzo because I'd hate for things to change too much.
From the Belvedere you can see the Cerrano Tower, or better yet go down to the beach for a closer look. In front of the tower there used to be the old Roman port of Hadria until it was destroyed by an earthquake and landslide in 1627, disappearing into the sea. A century before that event the Turks arrived to plunder the coastal towns and legend has it that Silvi Paese was saved by the young Saint Leone who rushed down the hill with a torch giving the impression of a large body of men about to attack.
The Turks retreated to their ships with their stolen booty from the port and Silvi commemorates this miraculous event every year in May with a celebration called Lu Ciancialone during which a large bonfire is lit.
Città Sant'Angelo
About the same distance from Pescara as Silvi Paese but a little further away from the sea, Città Sant'Angelo is a little unusual for an old Italian town in not having a large central piazza. Instead there's a long main street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, which starts at the sea-facing Belvedere and continues west, passing the impressive Collegiate Church of Archangel Michael, until ending a few hundred yards later at the highest point in town where the somewhat foreboding and grubby looking Church of Saint Augustine sits.
Off this main pedestrianized thoroughfare there are a few small squares, notably Piazza Garibaldi, but this is very much one of those more claustrophobic towns with mostly narrow streets and when you've lived in Italy for over a decade you really miss a large central piazza filled with cafes and shops when you visit somewhere that doesn't have one.
There are plenty of terraces around the perimeter of town however and no shortage of fabulous views in every direction. As good as the views are in summer, coming back here again in the winter when there is snow at the higher elevations really makes the mountains more dramatic and you can more easily appreciate the huge natural advantage that Abruzzo has with the sea and the mountains less than an hour's drive apart.
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