A ruined fortress at about 1,460 metres in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga national park, begun as a watchtower in the 10th century and wrecked by the earthquake of November 1461. Ladyhawke was shot here.
Tip: It pairs with Ofena, the hot inland basin below it where Cataldi Madonna farms 30 hectares. Park at the village and walk the last stretch up.
A high plateau of roughly 80 square kilometres between 1,500 and 1,900 metres inside the Gran Sasso national park, with a ski resort running since the 1920s and a hotel that held Mussolini in 1943.
Pours: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Alto Tirino
Tip: The road up from Castel del Monte is the scenic approach and it closes in winter. More than twenty films have been shot on the plateau.
The regional capital at 714 metres, rebuilding since the earthquake of 6 April 2009 and Italian Capital of Culture for 2026. The Fontana delle 99 Cannelle dates from 1272 and Collemaggio from 1270.
Pours: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Alto Tirino, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo
Tip: Go in May for Vinorum in the courtyards of the historic palazzi and on Piazza Duomo, or in late August for the Perdonanza Celestiniana on 28 and 29 August.
A high plateau of roughly 80 square kilometres between 1,500 and 1,900 metres inside the Gran Sasso national park, with a ski resort running since the 1920s and a hotel that held Mussolini in 1943.
Pours: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Alto Tirino
Tip: The road up from Castel del Monte is the scenic approach and it closes in winter. More than twenty films have been shot on the plateau.
The abbey that gave the Casauria DOCG its name, founded in 871 by Louis II, rebuilt by abbot Grimoald and reconsecrated in 1105. The bronze doors date from 1191 and the paschal candelabrum survives inside.
Pours: Casauria DOCG Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Abruzzo Pecorino
Tip: Tenuta Secolo IX is in the same comune, so the abbey and the DOCG promoted in 2025 make one short morning on the same stretch of the Pescara valley.
The Chieti shoreline from Francavilla al Mare down to San Salvo, named for the trabocchi, fishing platforms on stilts that go back to the 18th century. The Via Verde greenway runs 60 km on the old railway.
Pours: Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, Abruzzo Pecorino, Cococciola
Tip: Gabriele D'Annunzio rented a villa at San Vito Chietino in 1889 and put the trabocchi into his 1894 novel. Hire a bike at Ortona and ride south along the sea.
A hill town at 589 metres above the Marche border, with a fortress about 500 metres long and 45 metres wide covering 25,000 square metres. Its garrison surrendered on 20 March 1861.
Pours: Colline Teramane Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOCG, Controguerra DOC
Tip: It sits above the Controguerra DOC, so pair the fortress with Camillo Montori or Illuminati and you have the northern tip of Abruzzo in a day.
The regional capital at 714 metres, rebuilding since the earthquake of 6 April 2009 and Italian Capital of Culture for 2026. The Fontana delle 99 Cannelle dates from 1272 and Collemaggio from 1270.
Pours: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Alto Tirino, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo
Tip: Go in May for Vinorum in the courtyards of the historic palazzi and on Piazza Duomo, or in late August for the Perdonanza Celestiniana on 28 and 29 August.
The town at the centre of the Valle Peligna, the basin where the consortium places Abruzzo viticulture before the Renaissance. Ovid was born here, and a 12th century Gothic aqueduct runs along Piazza Garibaldi.
Pours: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Terre dei Peligni, Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo
Tip: Buy confetti, the sugared almonds the town has made for centuries, and walk Piazza Garibaldi, where the Giostra Cavalleresca horse race is run in summer.