Pescara’s location offers easy access to both sides of Abruzzo’s soul: the wild, mysterious interior of the Apennine Mountains and the sunny, welcoming marine culture of the coast.

When the sea calls, you can enjoy direct contact with pristine nature along a strip of coast known as the Costa dei Trabocchi.

Described by Gabriele D’Annunzio as “akin to colossal spiders”, the trabocchi are old fishing structures built on wooden piles that jut out on the water and dot the coast from Ortona to Vasto.

Their names seem to have been taken straight out of the world of fairy tales: Trabocco Turchino (Turquoise Trabocco) in San Vito Chietino is one of the oldest and most fascinating, and then there are Punta Cavalluccio (“hobby horse point”), Punta Rocciosa (“rocky point”), Punta Isolata (“lonesome point”) and, lastly, Punta Aderci, which stands out for the unforgettable view from its promontory.

A new 42-kilometre bike path runs along the Spanish broom-lined coast, linking all of the trabocchi and bringing you face to face with the sea in all of its moods, whether stormy or placid and calm.

Walking along the coast at sunset in the summer, perhaps after enjoying a meal at a seafood restaurant set up in a converted trabocco, you can bask in the pinks and blues of the sky and sea, blending along the horizon in infinite gradations.