Abruzzo & Molise

Museum

Built around the adjacent 730,000-year-old archaeological site of La Pineta, this intriguing museum stands next to a pavilion that protects the site of the original find. The modern open-plan building focuses mainly on the story of human development from prehistoric times, using large picture boards, mock-up dwellings and detailed captions (mostly in Italian). The site itself with its piles of elephant bones, remains of ancient lions, fossils, and stone tools left by our ancestor, Homo erectus, is reproduced on the museum floor.

Archaeological Site

One of Molise’s hidden treasures, the Roman ruins of Saepinum are among the best preserved and least visited in the country. Unlike Pompeii and Ostia Antica, which were both major ports, Saepinum was a small provincial town of no great importance. It was originally established by the Samnites but the Romans conquered it in 293 BC, paving the way for an economic boom in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Some 700 years later, it was sacked by Arab invaders.

Museum

Housed in a neoclassical villa in the Villa Comunale park, Abruzzo's best archaeological museum displays a comprehensive collection of local finds, illuminating Chieti's three millennia of existence. While the primary focus is on the vanished worlds of the Marrucini, Aequi, Marsi, Sabini and other tribes that inhabited central Italy prior to Roman expansion, there are also plenty of Roman artefacts. Of particular note are impressive coin hoards and classical sculpture – including a colossal seated Hercules from the 1st century BC.

Church

Founded in the 8th century, the Abbazia di San Vincenzo al Volturno is famous for its cycle of 9th-century frescoes by Epifanio (824–842) in the crypt. The original monastery was sacked and burned by the Saracens in 881 and subsequently rebuilt on the opposite side of the river; the crypt was miraculously spared. Surrounding it, the evocative archaeological area is also worth visiting. The crypt is only open for short visits at certain times of day (see the website).

Christian Site

This cliff-clinging hermitage with its 15th-century ceiling, 13th-century frescoes, narrow oratory and arched porticoes cowers under a massive rock face in the Morrone mountains. It was here in a grotto beneath the present church that Pietro da Morrone was apparently told he was to become pope in 1294. It’s a steep 20-minute walk from a car park just outside Badia to reach the hermitage. The views of Sulmona and the Valle Peligna below are superb.

Archaeological Site

Sitting below the Sant’Onofrio hermitage, this sanctuary was originally thought to be the house of Sulmona-born poet Ovid when it was first uncovered in the 1950s, but statues later found confirmed it as a Roman-era shrine to Hercules. The sanctuary's former foundations cover a couple of mountainside terraces and include a preserved mosaic floor sheltered in a wooden hut. Precious votive offerings found here are kept at Chieti's Museo Archeologico Nazionale – Villa Frigerj.

Basilica

With its distinctive chequerboard facade and strong links to Italy’s much admired hermit-pope Celestino V (whose remains are interred inside), the 12th-century Collemaggio is the church for which Aquilinos reserve most affection. Structurally damaged in the 2009 earthquake, its lengthy renovation project (initiated in 2012) took five years to complete. The details of how it was done are chronicled inside and provide an interesting coda to the church’s roller-coaster history.

Piazza

The large town square is home to Sulmona's extensive Wednesday and Saturday morning market : you'll find fresh fish, veg, fruit and flowers, as well as the ubiquitous porchetta van, selling pork in a roll. Along Corso Ovidio is a striking series of arches, all that remains of a 13th-century aqueduct. In the centre of the piazza, the Renaissance Fontana del Vecchio (Fountain of the Old One) is said by some to depict Solimo, the founder of Sulmona.

Museum

The Renaissance Palazzo d’Avalos houses a quartet of museums: the Museo Archeologico, with its eclectic collection of ancient bronzes, glasswork and paintings; the Pinacoteca Comunale, featuring paintings by the Palizzi brothers and other 19th-century artists; the Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea, with 80 works by contemporary Italian and Spanish artists; and the Museo del Costume, with donated Abruzzese folk outfits dating back to the early 19th century.