San Fino

If Puglia is Italy's heel, Abruzzo is the lower calf. The landscape here is very rugged with steep cliffs, rolling hills and the snow-capped Apennine mountain range.

But unique to this part of Italy are the numerous trabocchi that you find all along the Adriatic coastline.

In the 18th century, Abruzzese fishermen devised an ingenious method to reap the fruits of the sea, even during bad weather. Using wood from the local Aleppo pine trees, they built massive wooden structures, on piers, a couple hundred meters from shore. From the shelters, two long poles, aptly called antennae, extend, and a net is strung between them. Using winches, the net is lowered into the water, which is at least six meters deep, and then promptly raised, hopefully filled with the catch of the day.

Sadly, many of the trabocchi fell into disuse and disrepair over the years, but several were repaired and rebuilt using public funds, others have been converted into popular tourist attraction restaurants, and some still operate exactly as they did nearly two hundred years ago.

In San Vito Chietino, where we were staying, they are so numerous, the area is labeled La Costa dei Trabocchi (The Trabocchi Coast)Read more