the city of Ovid and of confetti, at the bottom of the Peligna basin between the Morrone and the Majella, with the Swabian aqueduct on one of the largest squares in Abruzzo, the Madonna who runs at Easter and the heritage train that in winter climbs through the snow of the high plateaus
Sulmona lies at the bottom of the Peligna basin, the bed of an ancient lake enclosed by the Morrone and the Majella, at four hundred metres, where the Gizio and the Vella meet. It is the city of Ovid, born here in 43 BC, who in exile remembered it as "richest in icy waters": the initials of his line, S.M.P.E., are still on the coat of arms and on the fountains. The centre is a long, straight street, corso Ovidio, which follows the Roman cardo from the villa comunale, the public gardens, to Porta Napoli, with the Gothic palazzo of the Annunziata and its sixty-five metre bell tower, and towards the end piazza Garibaldi, huge, closed on one side by the arches of the Swabian aqueduct of 1256. Here on Easter Sunday the Madonna che scappa, the Madonna who runs away, runs to meet her Son, loses her black cloak and is left in green, and at the end of July the Giostra cavalleresca, the jousting tournament, is run. Along the corso the shop windows are full of confetti, the sugared almonds that Sulmona has made for centuries, shaped into flowers, ears of wheat and bunches of grapes. Around about there are the Badia Morronese and the hermitage where Pietro da Morrone learned that he had been elected pope, Pacentro with its castle, the gorges of the Sagittario and the lake of Scanno; and from the station the heritage train of the Transiberiana d'Italia, the Italian Trans-Siberian, sets off, which in winter climbs through the snow as far as Roccaraso. With a motorhome there is a municipal area open all year, below the walls, with a lift that goes up to the centre.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
Sulmona has a municipal area, below the walls, on the Vella, with services and open all year, and a free car park at Porta Romana. People taking the heritage train leave the motorhome at the area, or, if it is not a large one, in one of the car parks near the station. Around about, with services, you can stay at Scanno, at Anversa degli Abruzzi for the gorges of the Sagittario and at Campo di Giove, at the foot of the Majella.
Area camper comunale di via Iapasseri, sotto le mura
via Iapasseri, 67039 Sulmona (AQ)
the Comune's area below the eastern walls, along the Vella, fenced and lit. You go up to the centre by a lift or by the stairs, and piazza XX Settembre is five minutes away. The Comune lists it with electric hook-ups, water filling and emptying, toilets and showers, accessible all year, but it gives neither the rate nor a phone number. In summer 2026 travellers found the pitches roomy, the toilets clean and the manager living on site and answering at any hour; the place is quiet. From the station of the heritage trains it is two and a half kilometres by road. That it is open in winter is what the Comune says, and we have not found an account from December
The Comune does not publish a rate; in September 2026 people who stopped there paid 1 euro an hour, with electricity at 5 euros a day and showers included
a car park for cars and motorhomes just outside the walls, on the Porta Romana side, with no marked bays, with a drinking fountain. Ten minutes on foot from piazza XX Settembre. In 2021 and in 2023 people slept there undisturbed, and no known sign bans overnight stays; we have not found more recent accounts
Parcheggio di viale della Stazione Centrale, per la Transiberiana
viale della Stazione Centrale, 67039 Sulmona (AQ)
one of the two free car parks near the station, about fifty metres away, the one the Ferrovia dei Parchi points out to people taking the heritage train; the forecourt in front of the station is tiny and must be left clear. Large motorhomes do not fit: it is worth asking by phone, on 0864 950555. The coordinates are those of the nearest car park on the map, and the exact spot is checked on site. Nobody reports having spent the night there
a private area for motorhomes only, with a barrier, on the lake shore, open since 2023 at all hours all year round; it cannot be booked. The price includes electricity up to 6 amps, water, waste emptying, wifi and cold showers; hot showers cost 50 cents, and there are a washing machine and a dryer. From Sulmona it is thirty kilometres by road through the gorges of the Sagittario, about half an hour, and in summer the Comune's shuttle bus passes in front. In December twenty-four hours cost a little over 23 euros
The operator writes 5 euros for the first hour, then 0.80 euros an hour from November to March, 1 euro in spring and autumn, 1.20 in July and 1.40 in August, without stating the year; 5 euros for water filling and emptying only · 329 000 4344 · sostacamperscanno.it
Area camper Gole del Sagittario, ad Anversa degli Abruzzi
località Ponte delle Fornaci, 67030 Anversa degli Abruzzi (AQ)
the motorhome area that the Comune of Anversa lists among its sights, at the entrance to the gorges of the Sagittario, sixteen kilometres from Sulmona; you walk from there to the reserve and the springs of Cavuto. On the map it has electricity and a motorhome service point, but nobody writes either the prices or whether it opens in winter: phone the operator. The village of Anversa is narrow and cannot be driven through by motorhome
via Pinete del Pizzalto 9, 67030 Campo di Giove (AQ)
a campsite with more than a hundred pitches below the pine forest of the Pizzalto, at a thousand metres, at the foot of the Majella, about twenty kilometres by road from Sulmona. Almost all the pitches have electricity, and there is a motorhome service point. It is a kilometre from Campo di Giove station, where the heritage train stops, and the Comune points to it as the official place to sleep in the village. The campsite publishes neither the rates nor the months it is open: ask, on WhatsApp too, before going up in winter
services not recorded
The campsite does not publish its rates · 338 720 6205 · campingorsaminore.it
the car park of the nature reserve of the springs of the Pescara river, level, shaded and lit, about twenty kilometres from Sulmona, near the Bussi-Popoli motorway exit. In 2023 the toilets were open in the evening too, and opposite there is a drinking fountain; in 2020 and in 2023 travellers slept there in silence. There is no motorhome service point. It is useful for people arriving late from Pescara
The centre is explored on foot, along corso Ovidio, and the motorhome stays at the area below the walls or at Porta Romana. Around about you go by motorhome, but in winter the mountains want snow chains.
You arrive by the A25 motorway Rome-Pescara, exit Pratola Peligna-Sulmona: twelve kilometres, a quarter of an hour to the motorhome area. From L'Aquila and from Castel di Sangro you arrive by the SS17 state road
In winter, snow chains: from 15 November to 15 April ANAS requires chains on board or winter tyres on the SS17 state road and on the SS487 over the San Leonardo pass, for Pacentro and Caramanico, and outside that period whenever it snows. On the Cinquemiglia plateau, the SS17 towards Roccaraso, vehicles over 7.5 tonnes may not pass in snow or ice
The limited traffic zone, the ZTL, closes the old town with cameras: from 1 April to 15 October you may enter only in the morning and late afternoon hours on weekdays, and never on Saturdays and public holidays; the fine is 83 euros. The Comune does not publish the winter timetable. A motorhome has no reason to enter the centre
The market is held on Wednesday and Saturday mornings in piazza Garibaldi, which on other days is a pay car park: on those days the square is full of stalls, and in summer the market moves for the Giostra
For Scanno take the SR479 regional road, which climbs inside the gorges of the Sagittario: coaches use it too, but it has narrow stretches and tunnels, and before the village an arch three metres high, which you avoid by turning onto the lake road. The detour to Castrovalva, with hairpin bends and a narrow tunnel, is not for motorhomes
Water and LPG: water filling and emptying are done at the area in via Iapasseri, and there are drinking fountains in piazza Garibaldi, on corso Ovidio and at Porta Romana. LPG is available at the Q8 station in via della Repubblica and at the Eni on the SS17, at Noceto
Seeing
Sights
Sulmona takes a day, all along corso Ovidio: the Annunziata with the museum, piazza XX Settembre with Ovid, piazza Garibaldi with the aqueduct and the Fontana del Vecchio, and at the end Porta Napoli and Santa Maria della Tomba; the cathedral is at the other end, beyond the villa comunale. Outside the city, five kilometres away, are the Badia Morronese and the hermitage of Celestine; further on Pacentro, the gorges of the Sagittario and Scanno, which want half a day each. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Piazza Garibaldi
Square · free entry · 42.04803, 13.92617
piazza Garibaldi, 67039 Sulmona (AQ)
the market square, which took Garibaldi's name in 1880: an ellipse of about a hundred metres by fifty, one of the largest in central and southern Italy, with the fountain in the middle and the Morrone in the background. On the west side it is closed by the arches of the aqueduct; around it stand San Filippo Neri, with the Gothic doorway of 1315 from the church of Sant'Agostino, which was destroyed, reassembled here in 1885, the Rotonda di San Francesco and the convent of Santa Chiara. It is the stage of the Madonna che scappa, on Easter Sunday, and of the Giostra cavalleresca at the end of July, where it is still called piazza Maggiore. On other days it is partly a pay car park
Opening hours always open; on Wednesday and Saturday mornings there is the market
it was built in 1256 by Manfred of Swabia, then regent of the kingdom, as the inscription between two arches says, to carry the water of the Gizio, taken upstream of the city, to the fountains, the mills, the workshops and the vegetable gardens. The long stretch, on the square, has fifteen Gothic arches over seventy-six metres; after the earthquake of 1706 houses had covered almost all of it, and it was freed only after the Second World War. On Easter Sunday the risen Christ waits for the Madonna under one of its arches
corso Ovidio, angolo piazza Garibaldi, 67039 Sulmona (AQ)
the Fountain of the Old Man, where the aqueduct ends, at the corner with corso Ovidio. It already existed before 1474, when the city's captain, Polidoro Tiberti da Cesena, had it remade in Renaissance style; the sarcophagus-shaped basin dates from 1901. It has two coats of arms of the city with the initials S.M.P.E. and that of the Aragonese, and on top a bearded head with the inscription "Vechio": tradition says it is Solimo, the legendary founder of Sulmona
Complesso della Santissima Annunziata and the Museo civico
Museum · paid entry · 42.04929, 13.92298
corso Ovidio, 67039 Sulmona (AQ)
the palazzo and the church of the confraternity of the Compenitenti, who founded them in 1320 as a church and a hospital; it was the city's hospital until 1960. The palazzo has a Gothic and Renaissance facade, with the doorway of 1415 and the statues of the saints; the church next to it has a Baroque facade, rebuilt after 1706. The bell tower, 65.50 metres high, is the tallest in Abruzzo according to Wikipedia. In the entrance hall there is an Ovid dressed as a medieval scholar, with the book open at his line. Inside the palazzo is the Museo civico, the city museum: the archaeological section, the picture gallery with the Beffi Triptych of 1435, the prints of Abruzzo costumes, and on the ground floor the domus of Ariadne, a Roman house excavated between 1991 and 1993, lived in from the first century BC to the second century AD, with the paintings of the wedding of Dionysus and Ariadne, which you look at from a suspended walkway. The Comune does not give the price: in 2024 the ticket was 4 euros, 6 with the museum of Santa Chiara. The church, closed after the earthquake of 2009, has been open again since December 2012
Opening hours the Comune writes Tuesday to Sunday 9:30-13:00 and 15:30-18:30, without the year; closed on Mondays · 0864 212962
the square halfway along corso Ovidio, with the bronze poet in the middle, thoughtful, book in hand: the city had wanted the statue since 1857, it was made by the Roman sculptor Ettore Ferrari and unveiled on 20 April 1925. On the square stands the building of the former Jesuit college, with the library and the classical high school named after Ovid, closed by the earthquake of 2009 and under restoration since 2022, and there is the Rapone confectionery, one of the oldest in the city. Confetti are an experience on this page
Sulmona's main street, straight as the Roman cardo it follows, from the villa comunale in the north to Porta Napoli in the south. You walk along it ten times a day: the Annunziata, piazza XX Settembre, the church of the Santissima Trinità of the brothers in red, the Fontana del Vecchio, the aqueduct. The shop windows are those of the confetti shops, with flowers, ears of wheat and bunches of grapes; in the evening it is the city's stroll. On Good Friday the procession of the dead Christ passes along it
the cathedral stands off the corso, at the far end of the villa comunale, the public gardens eight hundred metres long laid out in 1867. It was renewed between 1075 and 1119 and remade in Baroque style after 1706, but it keeps the Gothic doorway with the statues of San Panfilo and San Pelino, from 1391, and below the Romanesque crypt, with the urn of the patron saint and a room with relics of Celestine V, including part of his heart and a crucifix that came from the hermitage. On 28 April, for San Panfilo, the saint's silver bust, from 1458, is carried out in procession
Opening hours the parish does not publish visiting hours; you visit outside mass times, which on weekdays are at 18:30 and on Sundays at 9:30, 11:30 and 18:30. On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday the church and the crypt cannot be visited · cattedraledisanpanfilo.it
Chiesa di San Francesco della Scarpa and the Rotonda
Church · free entry · 42.04796, 13.92446
via Panfilo Mazara, 67039 Sulmona (AQ)
the Franciscans' church, enlarged by Charles II of Anjou in 1290, with its fourteenth century doorway; it collapsed almost entirely in 1706 and was rebuilt smaller, with a single nave, with the wooden organ of 1754. Of the old monastery what remains, on the side that goes down to piazza Garibaldi with the flight of steps, is the large late Romanesque doorway known as the Rotonda, below the truncated bell tower. Nobody publishes the opening hours
an eleventh century church built, tradition says, on a temple of Jupiter, with a fourteenth century facade and doorway and a fifteenth century rose window with sixteen little columns; the bell dates from 1314. It is the church of the confraternity of Santa Maria di Loreto, the brothers in white and green, and here is kept the statue of the Madonna che scappa: on Holy Saturday it goes out in a torchlight procession towards piazza Garibaldi, and on Easter morning mass is celebrated here before the run. Nobody publishes the opening hours
the convent of the Poor Clares on the east side of piazza Garibaldi, founded around 1260 by the Blessed Floresenda da Palena: they are the nuns who, around the fifteenth century, are said to have begun making flowers out of confetti. Since 2002 it has housed the civic and diocesan museum complex, with sacred art from the twelfth to the nineteenth century: a silk chasuble embroidered with gold from the end of the twelfth century, an illuminated missal from the thirteenth century, goldsmith's work. In the church the high altar dates from 1735, with the altarpiece by Sebastiano Conca. The nuns' parlour, with its stucco work and the foundling wheel, has been closed since the earthquakes. The Comune does not give the price; in 2024 there was a combined ticket with the Annunziata, at 6 euros
Opening hours the Comune writes Tuesday to Sunday 9:30-13:00 and 15:30-18:30, without the year · 0864 212962 · polomusealesantachiara@gmail.com
the gate at the end of corso Ovidio, to the south, built at the beginning of the fourteenth century as Porta Nova: the rusticated stonework with small rosettes, a hunting scene and a sacrifice scene carved on it, the coats of arms of the Anjou. In 1706 it lost its battlements. Inside the arch there is a large vase, put there to keep cars out
Badia Morronese, the abbey of Santo Spirito al Morrone
Monument · paid entry · 42.08838, 13.92307
via Badia, 67039 Sulmona (AQ)
the abbey that Pietro da Morrone, the future Celestine V, had built at the foot of the mountain, consecrated between 1267 and 1268, which from 1293 was the mother house of the Celestines. It is enormous, about 119 by 140 metres, with five courtyards; it was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1706, and from 1868 to 1993 it was a prison. Today it belongs to the Ministry of Culture, and houses the headquarters of the Majella National Park. You can visit the church, the refectory painted by Joseph Martinez between 1717 and 1719 and the staircase of white Majella stone; the Caldora chapel, with its sarcophagus of 1412, is closed for restoration in 2026, and the former prison opens only on special days. It is five kilometres from Sulmona, eight minutes by road
Opening hours according to the Ministry, in September 2026, Tuesday and Saturday 9:00-19:30; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday 9:00-13:30; closed on Mondays. The ticket office closes half an hour earlier · 5 euros, reduced 2 euros · 0864 32849
the hermitage clinging to the face of the Morrone, at an altitude of six hundred metres, above the Badia, where Pietro da Morrone withdrew in 1293 and where in 1294 the envoys of the conclave and King Charles II of Anjou climbed up to tell him he had been elected pope; after his abdication he came back, and fled from here to escape Boniface VIII. There is an oratory with fifteenth century frescoes, including one showing Celestine dressed as pope, and below the church the cave where he prayed. You reach it on foot from a car park above the Badia, in about twenty minutes' climb; with a motorhome it is best to leave it at the Badia. There are no official opening hours: in 2023 it was said to be usually open at weekends. On 19 May and 12 June the pilgrimages go up
the Italic sanctuary of Hercules Curinus on the slopes of the Morrone, below the hermitage, in use from the fourth century BC to the second century AD, with terraces on a podium seventy-one metres long. When it was excavated, from 1957, it was thought to be Ovid's villa; from here comes the bronze Hercules at rest, now in the archaeological museum in Chieti, of which there is a copy at the Annunziata. It is closed: the Ministry's last page, from October 2023, says it is for works on the access road, and we have found no news of a reopening. From the hermitage path you see it from above
one of the Borghi più belli d'Italia, the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, nine kilometres from Sulmona, on the side of the Morrone, inside the Majella Park, with stone houses rising up to the castello Caldora, at 718 metres, with its towers: the twenty-five metre Torre del Re and the one with a woman's face carved on it. The castle has belonged to the Comune since 1957, and part of it can be visited, up to the top of the south tower. The Comune gives the price by email. On the first Sunday of September there is the corsa degli zingari, barefoot down the rocky slope
Opening hours the Comune writes, in August 2026, that the castle is open without a lunch break from 10:00: until 17:00 in November, December, January and February, until 18:00 in March and October, until 19:00 in April and May, until 20:00 from 1 June to 10 September; for 11 to 30 September the Comune's table says nothing · 340 325 4453
another of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, ten kilometres to the south, on the road to Roccaraso, the only village inside a regional nature reserve, that of Monte Genzana and the Alto Gizio, over three thousand hectares where the bear lives. The castello Cantelmo, owned by the Cantelmo family from 1310 to 1750, has been restored and houses the museum of the territory; along the Gizio there is the trail of the old mills. Nobody publishes the castle's opening hours: the reserve office, on 0864 487006, answers on weekday mornings. The Transiberiana winds around it, climbing towards Cansano
The gorges of the Sagittario and Anversa degli Abruzzi
Park · free entry · 41.99101, 13.80510
località La Foce, strada regionale 479, 67030 Anversa degli Abruzzi (AQ)
the gorge of the Sagittario river between Anversa, Cocullo and Villalago, a regional nature reserve since 1997 and a WWF oasis since 1991, about 450 hectares up to the 1,500 metres of Pizzo Marcello. You start at the springs of Cavuto, below Anversa, with the botanical garden, and the path along the river leads to the Ponte delle Fornaci; entry is free, and the reserve's guides lead a two-hour visit for a voluntary donation. The wallcreeper lives here, and the Sagittario cornflower, which grows only here. Anversa above has the Norman castle, privately owned, where D'Annunzio set La fiaccola sotto il moggio. From Sulmona it is sixteen kilometres
at the end of the gorges of the Sagittario, half an hour from Sulmona, lies the lake of Scanno, at 922 metres, the largest natural lake in the region, formed by a landslide from Monte Rava that dammed the valley; from above it is heart-shaped, and you see it like that from the sentiero del Cuore, the Heart path, two kilometres and an hour's climb that passes the hermitage of Sant'Egidio. On the shore stands the church of the Madonna del Lago, consecrated in 1702. Higher up, at 1,050 metres, is the village of Scanno, one of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, the "city of photographers", with its stone houses and the women who once wore the black costume. The motorhome area is on the lake shore
Sulmona's year has its heart at Easter, with the confraternities in the streets: on Good Friday the Trinitarians in red, on Sunday the Lauretans in white and green with the Madonna che scappa. At the end of April there is San Panfilo, at the end of July the Giostra cavalleresca, in November the short film festival; in winter the heritage train takes you to the mountain Christmas markets. Around about, the villages have their ancient feasts, from the snake catchers of Cocullo to the bonfires of Scanno. The Comune does not publish a calendar: for Easter and San Panfilo the programme comes from the diocese, at the end of March.
Next: Sulmona International Film Festival · 4-7 Nov
4-7Nov
Sulmona International Film Festival
four days at the beginning of November
the festival of short films and first works, at the Cinema Pacifico, with screenings and awards. In 2026 it is the forty-fourth edition, from 4 to 7 November
10Nov
The Glorie di San Martino at Scanno
10 November
on the eve of St Martin's Day, on the three hills around Scanno, the young people of the districts light the stacks of wood, about twenty metres high, raised for weeks around a pole, and the highest and longest-burning fire wins. When they die down everyone goes down into the village with cowbells. They are lit at sunset, and in November at Scanno, at a thousand metres, it is cold
21-22Nov
The Transiberiana Christmas market trains
weekends from the end of November to Epiphany
the heritage train that leaves Sulmona for the Christmas markets of Roccaraso and Campo di Giove, with the wooden carriages of the 1930s and the snow on the high plateaus; two departures a day, at 9:30 and at 10:45, and the return in the evening. In the winter of 2026-2027 on 21, 22, 28 and 29 November, the weekends of December plus the 7th and the 8th, from 26 to 30 December and from 2 to 6 January, at 60 euros. On 18 October 2026 they were already almost all sold out: try the waiting list, and for the following year buy at the end of summer. The Transiberiana is an experience on this page
21-22 Nov · 28-29 Nov · 5-8 Dec · 12-13 Dec · 19-20 Dec · 26-30 Dec · 2-6 Jan
5Jan
The living nativity of Rivisondoli
5 January
on the high plateau, about thirty kilometres away, the living nativity staged since 1951 on the plain of Piè Lucente, with hundreds of performers and the Madonna chosen in the village on 8 December. It begins as darkness falls, and in the evening on the plateaus it is below zero: the SS17 state road requires chains on board or winter tyres
26Mar
The procession of the Cristo Morto
the evening of Good Friday
the procession of the dead Christ of the archconfraternity of the Santissima Trinità, founded in the early fourteenth century, with the brothers dressed in red, which leaves their church on corso Ovidio and goes round the old town: the statues of the dead Christ and of Our Lady of Sorrows, the lanterns, the choir of male voices only. In 2026 it set off at 20:00, after the 17:00 liturgy in the cathedral; the diocese publishes the time at the end of March. On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday the cathedral cannot be visited
to be confirmed
28Mar
La Madonna che scappa in piazza
Easter Sunday
the rite of the confraternity of Santa Maria di Loreto, the brothers in white and green. On Holy Saturday the statue of the Madonna, dressed in mourning, goes in a torchlight procession from Santa Maria della Tomba to San Filippo Neri, on piazza Garibaldi. On Sunday the risen Christ arrives in the square, and St John and St Peter knock at the church door; at the third time the Madonna comes out, slowly, then sees her Son and runs: in about ten seconds the black cloak falls, the green robe is left, a rose comes out of her hand and doves fly up. If the run succeeds, the year will be a good one. In 2026 the run was at 12:00, after the 10:00 mass at Santa Maria della Tomba. Thousands of people take their places along the course of the run from early morning: the motorhome stays at the area below the walls, and you get to the square on foot well in advance
to be confirmed
28Apr
Feast of San Panfilo
28 April
the feast of the patron saint, which closes the novena begun on 19 April. On the eve the saint's silver bust, from 1458, is displayed in the cathedral; on the 28th, after the solemn afternoon mass, the bust is carried in procession through the centre with the city's banner, and in the evening there is music in the villa comunale and fireworks at midnight. The Comune's offices are closed that day
1May
San Domenico and the serpari of Cocullo
1 May
at Cocullo, about twenty kilometres away, the statue of San Domenico abate goes out in procession covered in live snakes, caught by the serpari, the snake catchers, in the countryside from the middle of March and then set free again: the saint protects against snake bites, and the rite has its roots in the cult of the Marsi goddess Angitia. The sanctuary has been unusable since 2009, and the statue comes out of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Thousands of people come: in 2026 the Comune set up an area for motorhomes in via Santa Maria in Campo, on the SP60 provincial road, and a free shuttle bus from 8:00; there are no fuel stations in the village
2May
The Madonna della Libera at Pratola Peligna
the first and second Sunday of May
the feast of the sanctuary of Pratola Peligna, seven kilometres away, after the novena: the welcome of the pilgrims who arrive on foot from Gioia dei Marsi, the statue on display and the procession through the streets of the village
to be confirmed2 May · 9 May
5Sep
The Corsa degli zingari at Pacentro
the first Sunday of September
at Pacentro, nine kilometres away, for the feast of the Madonna di Loreto the young men of the village run barefoot down a rocky ridge to the Vella stream and race back up to the church; "zingari" in dialect means people who go barefoot, and the winner takes a woollen banner, the palio. It is the feast that closes the summer
to be confirmed
This year's dates are not out yet
The Giostra cavalleresca of Sulmona
the last weekend of July
the jousting tournament in costume that was run in piazza Maggiore in the sixteenth century and that since 1995 has been run again in piazza Garibaldi: seven knights, one for each of the four sestieri and the three borghi, the city's districts, tilting at the ring on a figure-of-eight course. Before it, from the cathedral, comes the historical parade of about four hundred people in costume. In 2026 it was the thirtieth edition, on 25 and 26 July, with tickets from 10 to 40 euros; the week before there was the Giostra d'Europa, with European cities paired with the borghi. On those days the market leaves the square
Remember
Useful tips
At Easter arrive on the Saturday: in the evening there is the torchlight procession of the Madonna, and on Sunday morning the square fills up early. The motorhome stays at the area in via Iapasseri, and you walk up to the square
The winter trains are bought months in advance: in mid October the Christmas market trains were already almost all sold out. If you want the snow without the train, drive up to Roccaraso by motorhome, with chains on board
In winter the basin is cold, below zero at night, and higher up it freezes: chains on board or winter tyres from 15 November to 15 April, and the heating on
With the ZTL you cannot go wrong if you leave the motorhome outside the walls: the gates have cameras, and from 1 April to 15 October on Saturdays and public holidays the centre is closed all day
On Wednesdays and Saturdays piazza Garibaldi is the market: to see it empty, with the aqueduct clear, go on another day
Confetti are bought at the confectioneries, which make them; on the corso there are also the shops that assemble them. For the Pelino factory and its museum phone first, on 0864 210047, because nobody publishes the 2026 opening hours
Ercole Curino is closed, and the hermitage of Sant'Onofrio has no opening hours: go up anyway for the path and the view over the basin, and the Badia, a few minutes away, has the Ministry's opening hours
In the recipe the source names chilli and onion in the soffritto but not among the ingredients, and does not give the quantities of rosemary, oil, salt and pepper. The photograph is a pecora alla callara, the same transhumance dish under another name
Sulmona · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
Sulmona is the city of confetti, the almond coated in sugar without starch, turned in copper pans called bassine, which have been made here at least since the end of the fifteenth century and which the shops on the corso assemble into flowers, ears of wheat and bunches of grapes: they are an experience on this page. Aglio rosso di Sulmona, the red garlic with its wine-coloured skin, is a traditional product of the basin, in the Slow Food Ark of Taste: it is harvested between June and July and sold in plaits, which once had fifty-two heads, one for each week, and in May the scapes, called zolle, are eaten sweet and sour. The mountains are those of the transhumance, and people eat mutton: pecora alla cottora was cooked in the shepherds' copper cauldron, the cottora, and it is the winter dish. In a motorhome it needs a large pot and a whole afternoon.
cut the meat into pieces and put it in the pot with one and a half litres of white wine, one and a half litres of water, the bay leaves and the rosemary
boil for an hour, skimming off the foam often
drain the meat and throw away the liquid
in the same pot fry a chopped mixture of garlic, carrot, celery, chilli and onion in the oil
add the meat and brown it
cover it with two litres of wine and let it simmer over a very low heat for about two hours, adding the tomato halfway through the cooking
season with salt and pepper and serve it piping hot
the roofs of Sulmona and the bell tower of the Annunziata, with the snow-capped mountains behindPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Sulmona seen from outside the city, with the bell tower of the Annunziata at the foot of the mountainPhoto: Lorenzo Testa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the arches of the Swabian aqueduct on piazza Garibaldi, with the Morrone in the backgroundPhoto: Luca Aless, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0piazza Garibaldi with the fountain in the middle and the Morrone behind the housesPhoto: Parsifall, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the church of San Filippo Neri with its Gothic doorway on piazza Garibaldi, and the snow-capped MorronePhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Fontana del Vecchio, where the Swabian aqueduct ends, lit up in the eveningPhoto: Lorenzo Testa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the palazzo of Giovanni dalle Palle looking onto corso OvidioPhoto: Parsifall, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Baroque church and the Gothic palazzo of the Santissima Annunziata on corso OvidioPhoto: Parsifall, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the bell tower and the dome of the Annunziata in front of the snow-capped mountainsPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Ovid dressed as a medieval scholar with a book in his hand, the statue in the palazzo of the AnnunziataPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the domus of Ariadne below the palazzo of the Annunziata, with the walkway suspended over the excavationsPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0piazza XX Settembre with the statue of Ovid and the bell tower of the AnnunziataPhoto: Parsifall, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the cathedral of San Panfilo with its Gothic doorway, at the far end of the villa comunalePhoto: Parsifall, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the columns and vaults of the Romanesque crypt of the cathedral of San PanfiloPhoto: Luisarcus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the doorway of the Rotonda di San Francesco della Scarpa seen in the evening from under the aqueductPhoto: Giu.gent93, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the facade of Santa Maria della Tomba with its doorway and rose windowPhoto: Lorenzo Testa92, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the church of Santa Chiara, in the convent of the Poor Clares that houses the diocesan museumPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Porta Napoli at the end of corso Ovidio, with its stonework of small rosettesPhoto: ManfredK, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Madonna che scappa in piazza Garibaldi, on Easter Sunday 2018Photo: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the brothers of the Trinità, in red, in the Good Friday procession of 2018Photo: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Badia Morronese seen from above, with the bell tower and the great courtyards in the basinPhoto: Ra Boe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 dethe courtyard of the Badia Morronese with the Baroque facade of the churchPhoto: Pietro, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the hermitage of Sant'Onofrio clinging to the Morrone, above the Peligna basinPhoto: Kewerner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the terraces of the sanctuary of Ercole Curino seen from above in 2013, now closedPhoto: Ra Boe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 dePacentro with the towers of the castello Caldora and the bell tower, below the mountainsPhoto: Verdenex84, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the stone houses of Pettorano sul Gizio on the side of the mountainPhoto: Pietro, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Anversa degli Abruzzi seen from the gorges of the SagittarioPhoto: Paul Harrison, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the gorges of the Sagittario in autumn, carved by the river into the limestonePhoto: Alessandro Mangione, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the heart-shaped lake of Scanno, from the sentiero del CuorePhoto: Francesca Piersanti, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the church of the Madonna del Lago on the shore of the lake of ScannoPhoto: Marcy digi Marcella Di Girolamo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
