Italy, Ortona for Chieti 25th October 2025

Chioti city, Abruzzi region, central Italy, on a hill overlooking the Pescara River south of

Pescara. It originated as Teate, chief town of the Marrucini (an ancient itallic tribe), and was taken by the Romans in 305 BC. Destroyed by the barbarians and rebuilt by Theodoric the Ostrogoth king in the 6th century, it was successively a Lombard stronghold, possession of the Hohenstaufen, the Angevin dynasty (house of Anjou) the house of Aragon, and a Norman County and the Caracciolo. Its ancient name was applied to the religious order of the Theatines founded in 1524 to combat Lutheranism and to reform morality. Roman monuments include the ruins of a theatre and of three small temples and the octagonal Church of Santa Maria del Tricalle built on the site of the pagan temple of Diana Trivia. The 11th-century cathedral. frequently rebuilt has a Gothic bell tower (1335-1498). Chieti contains the National Museum of Archaeology the Institute of Art, a theological university, and a provincial library and picture gallery.

The city is divided into the old town on the hill and a rapidly developing industrial and commercial area (Chieti-Scalo) in the valley, where there are branches of several national industries including textile cellulose, sugar. wire and tobacco factories.

Cathedral 

The crypt in the cathedral.

Museum of Archaeology.

Iron age snow shoes.

This turtle was donated to the city to celebrate the creators wife.

Trabucco Fishing. According to some historians of Apulia, the trabucco in the region

were imported from Phoenicians. However, the earliest documented existence

in Gargano dates back to 18th century, during which Gargano fishermen during that period sparsely populated, devised an ingenious technique of fishing that wasn't subject to weather conditions in the area Trabucchi were built in the most prominent promontories jutting nets out to Sea through a system of monumental wooden arms The development of the trabucchi allowed fishing without being submitted to sea conditions using the morphology of the rocky coast of Gargano.

The trabucco is built with traditional wood Aleppo pine -the typical pine of Gargano and common throughout the South-Western Adriatic- because this material is widely available in the region, modeled, elastic, weatherproof and resistant to salt (trabucco must resist the strong winds of Provence usually blowing in these areas). Some trabucchi have been rebuilt in recent years thanks to public funds. However, since they lost their economic function in the past centuries when they were the main economical source of entire families of fishermen, trabucchi rose into the role of cultural and architectural symbols and tourist attraction.

The fishing technique, is quite effective and consists of intercepting wide nets to catch the flows of fish moving along the ravines of the coast. Trabucchi are located where the sea is deep enough (at least 6 meters), and are built on rocky peaks generaly oriented southeast or north in order to exploit the favourable marine current. The net is lowered into the water through a complex system of winches and, likewise, promptly pulled up to retrieve its catch. At least two men are entrusted with the tough task of operating the winches that maneuver the giant net. Small trabucchi of Abruzzo and Molise Coast are electrically powered. The trabucco is managed at least by four fishermen called "trabuccolanti" who share the duties of watching the fish and maneuvering.

Ortona town. Abruzzi region central Italy, on a promontory 230 feet (70 m) above sea level,(18 km) southeast of Pescara. An ancient settlement, it was placed by the 1st-century-BC Greek geographer Strabo and the 1st-century-AD Roman scholar Pliny the Elder in the territory of the Frentani, a clan that allied itself with Rome in the 4th century BC. Ortona later became a Roman municipality It was severely damaged by earthquakes on several occasions. In the 18th century it was annexed to the Kingdom of Naples and was absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy. Landmarks include the town's cathedral, rebuilt after damage in the second world war and the Aragonese Castle built in 1452.

Italy reminds me of Zoe, the best chef I know. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant packed so clearly the food was excellent. I did not take pictures of the first 2 courses. Every course was accompanied by wine.

Followed by limonchelo or an italian liquor made from root, Genziana (gentian root liqueur) and various Amaro bitters. Made from the roots of the gentian plant. 

Can be produced by steeping the roots in wine (often with distillation) or by steeping them in alcohol. Michael had the limonchelo and I tried their Genziana.