mention needs to be made of the Italian institution that is Agriturismo – rural accommodation, often based on farms or smallholdings, offering meals made with the produce of the establishment or locale. Agriturismo is well established in Abruzzo and there are lovely places to stay. A good resource is www.agriturismo.it.
Campers are reasonably well provided for in Abruzzo. Most sites are traditional Italian style, with fixed pitches amongst camper vans, caravans and semi-permanent holiday huts, and are popular with large holidaying families. There are a few ‘wilder’ sites in the national parks. Good lists can be found at www.camping.it.
Finally there are a number of alpine-style mountain huts in the most popular higher areas. These can be special places to spend the night, and they allow an extended walk in remoter parts. They provide simple sleeping platforms (take your own bag), a cooked evening meal and breakfast. The CAI website (www.cai.it) has a full list (including unmanaged huts), as does the Abruzzo tourist organisation website and individual park websites. Worth particular mention are Rifugio Franchetti, Rifugio Duca degli Abruzzi and Rifugio Giuseppe Garibaldi in the Corno Grande massif, and Rifugio Sebastiani in the Velino.
Rifugio Garibaldi (Walk 16)
Daily essentials
Italy is one of the world’s most developed economies, and prices are similar to the rest of the Eurozone, the UK and North America. Some things, however, are typically cheaper – wine, coffee, dinner in a village restaurant, train tickets, shoes (you never know) and going to a football match.
Most shops and offices, including banks and post offices, are open from 8.30am to 1pm and then again from 3.30pm to 7pm. Even village cafés often close for lunch. Supermarkets, though, are increasingly open throughout the day. ATM machines are easily found in towns and quite often villages. They usually recognise foreign debit cards and will dispense euros. Credit cards are often not accepted by B&Bs and restaurants – keep topped up with cash.
Mobile phone coverage is good in Abruzzo, although you will be out of touch in the remoter valleys. There aren’t many public phone boxes – the telefonino (mobile phone) has become an essential. The internet, too, is just about everywhere. 4G data network coverage for smartphones is good and there are internet cafés in all of Abruzzo’s main towns. Wi-fi connections are usually available in hotels and B&Bs and can often be found in cafés. Some town centres, such as Sulmona, are covered by a municipal wi-fi network.
There isn’t a great deal of English spoken in Abruzzo, but someone can usually be found, particularly in a restaurant, hotel or even a mountain hut. You can enjoy a walking holiday with a basic grasp of Italian or none at all. In the summer there are more English speakers around – diaspora Italians visiting the home region. Don’t worry if you thought you had some Italian but still don’t understand – it’s the Abruzzo dialect. Speak Italian and people will switch. For a selected Italian-English glossary, see Appendix C.
Note that menus are rarely translated and sometimes don’t exist – the day’s dishes are listed by the waiter. But you can always manage, and unless you have a pretty restricted diet it can be fun.
Maps
There is no comprehensive mapping of Italy for walkers. Published maps of Abruzzo are patchy, both in coverage and quality, but the maps listed in the table below are recommended and cover most walks:
| Map | Name | Scale | Publisher |
| 1 | Majella – Carta Escursionistica | 1:25,000 | Parco Nazionale della Majella/D.R.E.SM. Italia |
| 2 | Maiella National Park – Tourist Map | 1:50,000 | Monte Meru Editrice |
| 3 | Majella | 1:25,000 | Edizioni il Lupo |
| 4 | Gran Sasso d’Italia | 1:25,000 | Edizioni il Lupo |
| 5 | Gran Sasso d’Italia | 1:25,000 | Club Alpino Italiano (CAI) – Sezione dell’Aquila |
| 6 | Monti della Laga | 1:25,000 | Club Alpino Italiano (CAI) – Sezione di Amatrice/SER |
| 7 | Monti Marsicani | 1:25,000 | Edizioni il Lupo |
| 8 | Abruzzo National Park – Trekking | 1:50,000 | Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise/S.E.L.C.A. |
| 9 | Monti Marsicani – Mainarde | 1:25,000 | Edizioni il Lupo |
| 10 | Monte Genzana, Monte Rotella | 1:25,000 | Club Alpino Italiano (CAI) – Sezione di Sulmona |
| 11 | Velino-Sirente | 1:25,000 | Edizioni il Lupo |
| 12 | Simbruini | 1:25,000 | Edizioni il Lupo |
The sketch maps in this guidebook should suffice for shorter walks below the tree line, but you should take the recommended sheet map as well. You should definitely take a sheet map for routes that visit peaks, ridges and open mountainside.
The recommended map for each walk is given here and also in the information box at the start of each route. A lesser alternative is given in brackets (it might not, for example, cover the whole route).
Maps can be difficult to obtain, especially outside of the region. In Sulmona, try Susilibri on Via Panfilo Manzara or the tourist information office in the Annunziata on Corso Ovidio; in L’Aquila, try Agnelli on Corso Principe Umberto; or, near Pescara, the bookshop in the Abruzzo Centre shopping mall. Tourist information offices and park visitor centres often keep a small selection, and maps may also be found in bars, restaurants and newspaper kiosks. Keep an eye out! Maps 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12 can be bought online at www.edizioniillupo.it. Other suppliers include Standfords (www.stanfords.co.uk) and The Map Shop (www.themapshop.co.uk) – both of which are based in the UK but deliver by post worldwide.
ViewRanger is an online route mapping service for walkers and cyclists. Its mapping of Abruzzo is good and can be accessed via an app on a GPS-enabled smartphone when you are out and about. It can be considered a good backup to the paper map. You can create an account at https://my.viewranger.com.
Using
