Buying Abruzzo property - about Abruzzo

Buy your Italian property in Abruzzo and you are stepping into a region of Italy very distinct from the lush and cultivated acres of Tuscany and Umbria. You’ll see Abruzzo referred to as Abruzzi at times. It’s a hangover from the fact that, until 1963, Abruzzo and neighbouring Molise were one region. During the Napoleonic period this region had been divided into the provinces of Abruzzo Ulteriore I (now Teramo), Abruzzo Ulteriore II (now L’Aquila) and Abruzzo Citeriore (Chieti), the whole known collectively as the Abruzzi.

Buy real estate in Abruzzo and you’re buying into one of the most historically fascinating regions of this historically rich country. The earliest inhabitants were the Picenians who, along with their fellow Italic tribes, the Vestinians, Marsians, Equians and Praetutians, were brutally crushed under the all-conquering Romans in 90BC. Look at property for sale in Abruzzi towns such as L’Aquila and Sulmona and you are looking at Roman settlements, continuously occupied to the present day.

Roman historian Sallust was born in the former in 86BC and the poet Ovid in the latter in 43BC. Other famous sons of the Abruzzi include St Bernadino of Siena, who died in the Abruzzo mountains in 1441. From Abruzzo came the father of the English pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, as well as Gabriele D’Annunzio, poet and military hero of the Italian Risorgimento.

One of Italy’s least crowded regions

One of Italy’s least populus regions (and in common with many rural parts of Italy, Abruzzo has been steadily depopulating since World War II), it is also one of the most beautiful. Property for sale in Abruzzo lies in some of the most silent and lovely reaches of the Italian peninsula. With the Apennines on its western flank, and bordered by the Adriatic on the east, it has some of Italy’s most untamed country. The Gran Sasso is the highest peak in the Apennines; you can travel the valleys of the region and never meet another soul; move up onto the huge mountain plains; and encounter the eerie spectacle of entire abandoned hill towns.

This is property in Italy for the adventurous buyer, with some frontier spirit. House prices in Abruzzo as a whole can be as low as €1000 per square metre, but property in some of the abandoned villages can be had for far less. Few other places in Italy offer such an opportunity to buy centuries-old farmhouses and estates for a song.

So unspoiled is it that it seems a surprise that it needs protecting, but large parts of the west of the region are covered by national parks, with the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso, the Parco Nazionale della Majella and the Parco Regionale Sirente Velino. The south-western corner, bordering Lazio, is covered by the Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo.

Abruzzo … good skiing, good communications

Thick forests of oak, beech and chestnut are populated with golden eagles, chamois, wolves and wild cats. Red deer and roe deer, even a small number of bears, inhabit this remote centre of Italy. And while the agricultural base of the mountains has been eroded, skiing has taken off. In the north, around L’Aquila, there are some 22 resorts.

And though rural, communications are surprisingly good. Buy a property in Abruzzo and you are within easy reach of the motorway network, with the A14 coastal highway putting the coastal towns of Ortona, Pescara, Roseto degli Abruzzi and the rest within a few hours’ drive of Bologna to the north and Puglia to the south. From the A14, the A24 and A25 cross the country to meet the A1 north-south motorway to the west of the region and just east of Rome. The A1 stretches north to Florence (and thus into northern Europe) and south to Naples.

It gets better. Property for sale in or near the town of Pescara (ideally situated for the Abruzzi Riviera) puts you withing easy reach of Ryanair’s cheap flights from London Stansted. Should you be coming over for a look around, we're happy to point you towards ahotelinitaly.com should you be looking to book an Abruzzo hotel.

Real estate in L’Aquila and the Gran Sasso

So where to buy property in Abruzzo? The town of L’Aquila, as well as offering good access to the ski resorts and being on the doorstep of the Gran Sasso national park, has a fascinating history. Sitting at the foot of Gran Sasso itself, the town was created by German Emperor Frederick II in 1242. He drew the population of 99 local villages together to form his new capital. Each village had its own quarter, each with its own piazza and church. Only two of the 99 churches remain, though the town-hall bell chimes 99 times each night.

Pescara, as well as having the international airport, offers much to attract those looking to buy property in Italy. There are 16km of beach, ferries over to Croatia and the islands off the Dalmatian Coast. Apartments in Pescara offer a reasonably priced foothold on the Adriatic Coast. Look also at property for sale in Chieti, Sulmona, Teramo, Ortona and Vasto.

Property for sale in Abruzzo — how much?

Property bargains abound in Abruzzo. A farmhouse in the mountains outside the medieval town of Lanciano offers stunning views, is just 15 minutes from the beach, and 50 minutes from a ski resort. This house needs work, but at €18,000 you’d be prepared to spend money to develop this Italian property. €57,000 would buy you a town house in a medieval village just five minutes from the beach: plenty of room (150m²) and a garden.

Real estate for sale in Abruzzo — food and drink

And there are some very toothsome reasons for looking at Italian property for sale in Abruzzo. It has arguably the best pasta in Italy; handmade ravioli; pancakes baked with bechamel sauce and spinach; timballi are savoury rice or pasta baked in moulds. The long expanse of Adriatic coastline provides plentiful seafood and the speciality of brodetto, or fish soup. The town of Pescara even owes its name to the Italian for fish (pesce). Turkey, mutton, rabbit, kid, stuffed fowl and suckling pig provide the meat on the menu. The wines will be familiar to visitors, with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo reds and Trebbiano d’Abruzzo whites.