The Costa dei Trabocchi

Colossal wooden spiders suspended over the sea, once fishing machines. D'Annunzio described them; today a cycleway runs past them all.

The story

That chain of headlands and crescent bays gave the image of a succession of offerings, for each inlet held a treasure of grain. The broom spread a golden mantle along the whole coast.

The Costa dei Trabocchi is the coastline of the province of Chieti, running along the Adriatic trunk road. It takes its name from the trabocco, an imposing timber structure once used as a fishing machine and now a visitor attraction. It is also a body made up of the coastal municipalities committed to preserving what is distinctive about the area and to protecting the shore: Ortona, San Vito Chietino, Rocca San Giovanni, Fossacesia, Torino di Sangro, Casalbordino, Vasto and San Salvo.

Punta Turchino

At San Vito Chietino stands the oldest trabocco still standing: Punta Turchino, described by D'Annunzio in his novel “Il trionfo della morte”. Nearby is the hermitage the poet used to stay in, from which a wide stretch of coast and several trabocchi can be seen.

In the land of the broom, among the orange and olive trees, a small bay between two headlands. From the far tip of the right-hand headland, above a group of rocks, a trabocco reached out, a strange fishing machine made entirely of planks and beams, like a colossal spider…

The railway that became a cycleway

In 2006, when the Adriatic railway line was decommissioned, work began on a cycleway that runs from Francavilla to San Salvo and makes it possible to discover these places, their history, their culture and their rich cooking.