Guardiagrele: Abruzzo Terrace

We will start the tour from the southern side of the town characterized by the presence of the Torre Longobarda (Lombard Tower) and we will continue with the visit to the most important churches of the town. This include the magnificent cathedral and its museum, the Museum of Costume, the Archaeological Museum, and the Centro di Eccellenza dell'Artigianato Artistico Abruzzese (Centre of Excellence for the Abruzzese Arts and Crafts (which consists of a permanent exhibition of pottery, wrought iron, jewelry; every year  from August 1 to the 20, this center is ">further enriched by artworks of the leading craftsmen of Abruzzo).

You will have the opportunity to taste the Sise delle Monache a typical cake made of sponge-cake and custard that is produced exclusively in Guardiagrele and whose recipe has been handed down since 1884.

Guardiagrele, enjoys a unique environment and landscape position (for that it was defined by the poet Gabriele D 'Annunzio the Terrace of Abruzzo): the gaze meets the sea on the horizon after crossing the rolling green hillsides.

Probably founded by the Lombards in the seventh-eighth century, it has undergone, over the centuries, various stages of expansion but is between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries that the town has experienced the greatest period of splendor under the rule of the Orsini family.
They transform Guardiagrele in the County of Manoppello main center and they  enriched it of churches and palaces. Napoleon I Orsini donated  the relics of St. Nicholas Greek to the Franciscans to increase the prestige of the town thanks to the remains of the saint (1340) -  that you can still see in the church.

In the second half of the '400  Nicholas Guardiagrele, a skilled engraver of precious metals, but also a painter and sculptor, was working in the town and he rose to the rank of artist for the refinement of his works.

Since the end of the fourteenth century. There was a dark period because of plague epidemics, earthquakes and invasions but with the progressive affirmation of the middle classes, at the end of '700, Guardiagrele knew a new period of prosperity.

The town  preserves still today fine artistic elements and it is still very much alive  the craft dedicated to the iron and copper forging, ceramic, stone and wood.

On request the tour can be combined with a wine tasting in the charming winery of the Semivicoli Castle (20 min. far from  Guardiagrele), a baronial mansion belonged to the noble family Perticone for generations. The caste, built between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, rises from the highest point of the Semivicoli village in the municipality of Casacanditella (CH).

The Masciarelli family, famous for his wine production, has purchased the property in 2004 and initiated a work of restoration. Now the company manage in there a Touristic Resort.

You may contact me for planning services and routes and have suggestions about the best restaurants and accommodation.