What the Marsica is It is the basin around the former Lake Fucino, closed in by mountains on every side. For two thousand years the third largest lake in Italy sat in the middle of it; today there is a perfectly geometric agricultural plain, and what strikes you is precisely the absence — you can see where the water used to be. It is a region people drive through on the way somewhere else. Those who stop find there is more here than they expected, and no queues. Day 1 — underground, and the village Morning in Capistrello: the old centre on foot, then the Emissary of Claudius down in the valley. It is open, free and needs no booking, and it is the largest hydraulic work of the Roman empire. Afternoon on the Piano della Renga, eighteen minutes uphill, for the contrast: from the dark of Roman stone to an empty plateau at 1,400 metres in the same day. Dinner in the village. Every restaurant is under five minutes away. Day 2 — the castle and the plain Celano is twenty-seven minutes. The castle stands above the village and is visible from the whole basin; from up there you look out over the plain and grasp how big the lake was. The circle with yesterday closes by itself: that water went into the tunnel you walked into. In the afternoon you either drop down to Avezzano or carry on to Sulmona, just under an hour away — medieval aqueduct, main square, confetti. Sulmona is worth half a day on its own, so either do it properly or leave it for another time. Day 3 — the park, or the snow April to November: the Abruzzo National Park. Pescasseroli is an hour away, Barrea and its lake an hour and a half. A full day, walking shoes, binoculars if you have them. Or Lake Scanno, just under an hour: shorter, and the road there is half the reason to go. December to March, instead of the park: Ovindoli at forty-five minutes, or Roccaraso at an hour and twenty if skiing is the point of the trip. If you only have two days Drop the third and leave it at that: the first day is the one that makes sense of the place, the second is the one that widens it. If you have four, don't fill the fourth. Drive down the Roveto valley without a plan and stop where you feel like stopping. It is the part nobody writes guides about, and the part people remember.