Abruzzo

Neither part of fashion conscious, Ferrari-producing northern Italy, nor the siesta-loving, anarchic world of the south, Abruzzo is something of an enigma. Despite its proximity to Rome and its long history of tribalism and pre-Roman civilisation, it sits well down the pecking order of Italian regions in terms of touristic allure.

Notwithstanding, this gritty mountainous domain, rocked sporadically by earthquakes, remains refreshingly unique. Herein lies a higher concentration of protected land than anywhere else in Italy, some of the last vestiges of large wild fauna on the continent, and a patchwork of individualistic towns and villages whose folkloric traditions go back as far as the Italic tribes who founded them.