Page 511 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

ABRUZZ O , MOLISE AND PUGLIA  509

The Museo Civico holds a Ovid, the Latin Poet
collection of local antiquities,
costumes, paintings and the Born in 43 BC, Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) was
work of goldsmiths formerly Sulmona’s most illustrious inhabitant. Not much
housed in the palace. The adja- survives here to remind you of his presence,
cent church of the Annunziata, however, apart from a Corso Ovidio, a 20th-
with a Baroque façade, was century statue of him in Piazza XX Settembre
rebuilt in the 18th century. and, just outside the town, a ruin traditionally
Behind the church are 1 BC– known as Ovid’s Villa. Known as one of the
greatest poets of Classical Rome, his subjects
AD 2 ruins of a Roman house. included love (Ars Amatoria) and mythology (Metamorphoses).
At the end of Viale Matteotti In AD 8 he was banished into exile on the Black Sea, the far edge of
is the cathedral of San Panfilo, the Roman Empire, after being implicated in a scandal of adultery
built over a Roman temple. with Julia, the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus (see pp52–3).
San Francesco della Scarpa, Ovid con tinued to write of his hardships, and died in exile in AD 17.
in Piazza del Carmine, has a
13th-century portal. Winding
past it to the Fontana del
Vecchio (1474) is an aqueduct 4 Scanno In the shadow of Apennine
that once fuelled local industry. peaks and beside lovely Lago
L’Aquila. * 2,400. @ n Piazza Santa
Maria della Valle 12 (0864 743 17). di Scanno, the town is also a
Environs ( Tue. ∑ scanno.org favoured stop on the way to the
East of Sulmona is the Maiella Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo
National Park, a massif of 61 peaks Wonderfully well- (see pp510–11). The
and forested valleys offering preserved, this summer months are
walk ing, birdwatching, climbing medieval hill-town the busiest, with a
and skiing. To the west, Cocullo set in beautiful, wild variety of activities
hosts the May Processione dei countryside is one from riding, boating
Serpari (Festival of Snakes) in of Abruzzo’s most and camping by the
which a statue of the patron popular attractions. lake, to the August
saint, Domenico Abate, is There are alleys and classical music festival.
draped with snakes and carried narrow flights of steps, During the January
through the town. In the 11th oddly shaped Festa di Sant’ Antonio
century he is said to have rid courtyards into which Abate, a large lasagna
the area of venomous snakes. small churches have is cooked outside
been pressed, and Traditional costume still Santa Maria della
E Museo Civico ancient mansions in worn in Scanno Valle, which is built on
Palazzo dell’Annunziata, Corso Ovidio. whose windows the remains of a pagan
Tel 0864 21 02 16. Open 9am–1pm, women can be seen making temple. The food is doled out on
4–6:30pm daily. lace or embroidering. a first-come, first-served basis.

High Apennine peaks looming above the medieval hill-town of Scanno in Abruzzo

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