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loreto apruntino |
| One of the most important market towns in the region is LORETO APRUNTINO , a quiet hilltop settlement with medieval origins 24km inland from Pescara. The labyrinthine old town is home to a score of artisans' workshops making knives, copper and iron pots and items in terracotta and decorated glass, which are open to the public (daily 4-7pm). Some tiny cantinas in the old town sell olive oil, for which the area has been awarded a DOP ( denominazione di origine protetta ) the equivalent of the DOC designation for wine. Loreto heaves with people on market day (Thursday) and in the evenings during the late-running passegiata, when it's a pleasure simply to do nothing much and for a moment be part of small town life. If you want a focus for your wanderings, just outside town is the fourteenth-century church of Santa Maria in Piano (daily 8am-noon & 3-7pm), with a series of frescoes in the right aisle in diverse styles dating from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, which celebrates the devotions of saints and apostles including St Thomas of Aquinas, protector of the city. At the top of the old town, on the end of a row of nineteenth-century palazzi, you'll find the church of San Pietro Apostolo . The church dates from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with a Renaissance doorway decorated with the coat of arms of the Borboni, who chose this as their castle abbey. |