This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

At the time I am publishing this article, Abruzzo is one of the regions I absolutely must visit better, but I have had significant experiences there, including seeing my table neighbors kicked out of the restaurant.

Dr. marbles player

The first time I took a trip to Abruzzo was not for pleasure but a business trip that was very enjoyable, however.

Paved street of a medieval village in Abruzzo
When I took this picture I didnt know I would one day have a blog so Im not sure where I was It remains that there are so many cute little villages

Together with some colleagues we went as experts to train others from the area. We were staying in Giulianova in a hotel by the sea. Our activity was almost only in the morning, and since it was still spring, we found an alternative way to take advantage of the hours on the beach together: playing with marbles.

We would return to the hotel all dressed distinctly, and at the front desk we would be greeted with a personal: good afternoon doctor. After 20 minutes we would come out armed with buckets and shovels (to make tracks), greeted in the same way.

Kicked out of the restaurant

Other times I happened to be passing through Abruzzo and took advantage of it for stops of various kinds, knowing that the region deserves to be explored in depth. One thing I particularly like, but it’s not easy, you have to make reservations, is to eat in an overflow (although they are expensive!).

A trabocco, a characteristic restaurant on the Abruzzo coast set up in small fishing huts built with wooden planks and on the sea
Trabocchi are set up in small fishing huts built with wooden planks and on the sea

In the end, inland trattorias give more satisfaction. Once I was having lunch in the center of Teramo. It was on a Sunday and although winter, with few places open, I struggled to find a seat in a very small restaurant with 6/7 tables.

The proprietor asked if I might be okay with a small table sacrificed close to the cash register: I said I was asking for no less. Having thought I would have to skip lunch because I had found nothing else, my hunger had increased. Already I was anticipating the remarkable portions of that home cooking, and in which the only other person on staff besides the aforementioned proprietor worked.

At one point I witnessed a memorable scene. The two young female tourists very engrossed in their phones who had come in just before me ordered a salad for 2 and a bottle of water. The owner of the restaurant became furious and literally threw them out, railing that they could go to a bar if they had to take a table away from perhaps someone who was going to eat for real.

I know how the two kicked out of the restaurant felt; it happened to me in Bucharest, but because I was alone. Other times they wouldn’t let me in. In the kissed heads of those half-cartridge restaurateurs I was not an interesting enough customer. These ones, on the other hand, were kicked out of the restaurant precisely because they had not ordered enough; whereas I usually eat even for two.

Epic eats in Abruzzo

Another time in Pescara, I had gone to a place famous for arrosticini, and I was going to have a mouthful of them. I was going to get just those, but the waiter suggested an antipasto. He brought me an industrial amount of food, without finishing the appetizers I would have already been full.

But my favorite place, to which I have returned, is a bnb restaurant near Chieti. The first time I went I was intrigued just by a review in which the dislike of the restaurateur was mentioned.

I was treated very well and ate like God! Reviews should always be weighed, also because one should know who wrote them.

Dumping the girlfriend on the phone under the Majella

In the first summer of Covid I was with The lady of the woods, whom I met on a mountaintop. After an idyllic beginning the relationship turned into agony. The situation became untenable when I resumed work, demanded to spend more time together, and nothing went right. There was yet another fight, and for a week he did not answer my phone or texts.

An opportunity arose to go away for a couple of days. Since he was not giving audience I went alone: base in Pescara with trekking to Majella plus a few villages. After a very pleasant walk in which I had reflected on how important serenity was to my mental and physical health, I was taking off my boots with a splendid view of sea and mountains when the phone call came.

I did not feel like talking to her, and although she did not answer me for a week, she attacked me because I did not answer her immediately. Then she became furious because she did not believe I was there alone and because I had not told her, and finally she offered to join me immediately. I told her that no, that was not the case; in fact, we were not to see each other anymore at all.

Trabocco, a typical restaurant on the Abruzzo coast located inside former fishing huts. It was not here that I saw the chicks kicked out of the restaurant.
It wasnt here that I saw the chicks kicked out of the restaurant but at a trattoria in Teramo equally picturesque in my opinion

Home page travel set On the road into central Italy, marriage proposal (Italy and Vatican)

Previous leg Way of the Gods, among fierce animals and gods

Next stop Weekend in Umbria, fog in the house and naked in the street

Valley in the wild and forested Majella; a few miles from the Adriatic Sea
The two treks I made on Majella were very beautiful although not marked very well In one the trail stopped in the middle without any prior warning

Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent

Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives

Countries visited in my travel stories

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author avatar
Fabio Viroli
Ho sempre avuto tante passioni, ma da sempre più o meno latenti, le principali sono viaggiare e scrivere. Tra le altre cose ho una laurea in psicologia; ho fatto per più di 30 anni l’allenatore di basket; leggo tanti libri; sono stato molto appassionato di sport e di musica rock; e faccio improvvisazione teatrale