Medieval Village of Scanno and Lunch at the De Santis' Farm

Today we ventured a bit farther out from Sulmona to visit the village of Scanno. https://www.italiannotebook.com/places/scanno-italy-a-hidden-gem-in-the-heart-of-abruzzo/. It is supposed to be an incredibly picturesque village the tourists flock to in the summer and is 31 km or about 20 miles from Sulmona. We went about half way on the highway and then the last half on two-way, very narrow and winding mountain roads! I tried not to look except when we were going by Lake Scanno which is quite lovely. Half is administered by a smaller village of Villa Lago and the other half by Scanno. I rather enjoyed walking through Scanno although Michael didn't find it particularly charming and was able to list a number of reasons why he thought that! Scanno is relatively small during the winter but begins to swell with tourists and family returning to their village for the summer. Lots of references to the native dress of the women of Scanno and their jewelry making. In fact, I bought a ring -- I had two choices with one being 18 carat gold at 880 euros and the other 18 carat gold plated for 50 euros and yes, I went for the gold plated one!

Here is a picture of my ring, photos of a local woman in her traditional dress and references to this costume all around the village. Also a few photos of this charming/not so charming village.

I have a very similar ring that Amelia gave me but in silver that her father had made. Jewelry in Scanno was very much like that of Naples since they were all originally part of the Naples reign.

Now photos of women in traditional dress:

Several photos of Scanno streets, alleys, and other sights!

As we were waiting for the bus to leave Scanno, Michael picked up some Abruzzi waffle cookies to share with everyone on the tour. They were okay but not great however, when in Abruzzo, you need to try the local items!

After a walking field trip of Scanno we headed on to the De Santis' farm that is located in the countryside surrounding Introdacqua, another small medieval village in the Valle Peligna. Here we had lunch with the De Santis family, toured their 120 acre farm that has been in the family for 200 years. It is now run by two brothers and their families. Here are a couple photos of the farm and two farm houses:

We then enjoyed a demonstration of making ciambelline di farro al vino typical of Abruzzo, a very hard dipping cookie that is very good. Three generations of the DeSantis family demonstrated and then they asked for volunteers. I was the only one willing to step up and give it a try.

Interestingly, it is made very much like homemade pasta on a wooden board but the texture is so different from either pasta or biscotti dough of which I am very familiar! It took a bit of practice making the cookies at first but I gradually caught on! I may try making them as an alternative or addition to my holiday biscotti next year! Momma gave us her recipe but you can google recipes in English for Ciambelline. Her recipe only calls for flour, sugar, olive oil, and water without any baking soda that some recipes call for. Hers are very hard and yummy. She makes them weekly and they last for a full week without a problem.

One of the daughters' husband then arrived and played music and we watched the family dancing! It was quite a fun afternoon!

We headed back to the hotel around 4:30pm and the rest of the evening was on our own. Michael and I made reservations at Ristorante Clemente which is reported to be the top rated restaurant in Sulmona having received its first Michelin star in 2019. https://www.ristoranteclemente.it/ Michael had a mix of grilled meat including venison, pork, rabbit, and lamb. Even he could eat but half! I had homemade pappardelle with artichokes and porcine of which I could only eat about 1/3. It was yummy but just too much!