The advantage of being in the middle The classic mistake in Abruzzo is changing hotel every night to be near whatever you want to see next. You end up spending your mornings packing, and the good things in this region are all within an hour of each other anyway. Capistrello sits in an unusual spot: mountains behind, the Fucino plain in front, and to the south the Roveto valley dropping away towards Lazio. You can go in three different directions without ever repeating a road, and come back in the evening to where you left your things. Mountains and snow Ovindoli is forty-five minutes away, thirty-eight kilometres. In winter it is the local ski area; in summer it is meadows and chairlifts that take you up without walking — useful with children, or with anyone who would rather not climb. Campo Felice is fifty minutes, Roccaraso an hour and twenty. Roccaraso is the biggest and the busiest: worth it if skiing is the reason for the trip, not if it is one day among several. And then the Piano della Renga, eighteen minutes away, which is not a resort but an empty plateau. It costs less than any of them and it is the one people remember. Villages and the plain Celano is twenty-seven minutes: castle above, village below, and behind it the Fucino plain — the lake the Romans drained. If you have already seen the Emissary at Capistrello, here you understand where the water was going. Sulmona is just under an hour, and it is the real town of the area: a medieval aqueduct running through the main square, and the confetti it is famous for. Half a day, taken slowly. South, down the Roveto valley, you drop through villages and chestnut woods. It is the least travelled direction and the slowest, and the one we suggest to anyone staying more than two nights. The parks The Abruzzo National Park starts an hour away: Pescasseroli is the centre, Barrea and its lake an hour and a half. It is where you go for the woods and the wildlife, and it wants a full day. Lake Scanno is just under an hour, and the road there is half the reason to go. The Majella National Park is around fifty minutes. None of these is a quick stop. One a day, and you come back satisfied. How to plan the days Two nights: one day for Capistrello and the Renga, one day in a single direction. Three or four: add Celano and the Fucino, and keep a day for a park. If you come in winter, swap the park for snow. A week: add Sulmona, Scanno and the slow way down the Roveto valley — and at least one day when you don't take the car at all.