From the lake to the sea
The ways of water
You follow the Aventino to where it meets the Sangro, then the Sangro to where it meets the sea. In between: a lake, a marsh turned reserve, a gorge cut into sandstone.
- 60 km
- A full day
- Easy
- 6 stops
This is the route that explains the valley better than any other. Water decided where the mills and the oil presses went, where the flocks stopped, where the dams were built for industry — and each time the landscape changed accordingly. It starts at the Sant'Angelo reservoir, below Casoli, and goes down to the coast, where the abbey looks out over the trabocchi.
60 km in all between the first stop and the last, by car, with stops on foot. Approximate distance.
The stops
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Lake Casoli
Casoli
The Aventino dammed at the foot of the historic centre. On its shore, a cavity entirely lined with gypsum alabaster.
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The Rio Secco gorges
Roccascalegna and Gessopalena
A detour upstream: the gorge that the village calls “Fuci”, between the Morge della Penna and the castle crag.
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The Serranella Oasis
Sant'Eusanio del Sangro, Altino and Casoli
Where the Sangro and the Aventino meet. Two hundred bird species recorded, and two works of art out in the water.
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“La Biscia” by Nunzio Di Stefano
Altino, Serranella Oasis
Carrara marble on the pool: it changes shape depending on where you stand.
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The Costa dei Trabocchi
from Ortona to San Salvo
The Sangro reaches the sea. The old railway line has become a cycleway running the length of the coast.
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The abbey of San Giovanni in Venere
Fossacesia
From 107 metres up you can see the whole coast. Below, in Roman times, there was a harbour.
The stops in detail
6 places
Nature
Lake Casoli
The Sant'Angelo reservoir on the Aventino, with the Maiella behind it. On its shore opens a cavity lined with gypsum alabaster.
Casoli
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Nature
The Rio Secco gorges
A narrow gorge between the Morge della Penna and the castle crag, where Mediterranean scrub grows and the peregrine falcon circles.
Roccascalegna and Gessopalena
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Nature
The Serranella Oasis
A dam built for industry turned within a few years into a marsh, then an oasis, then a reserve: three hundred hectares where the Sangro and the Aventino meet.
Sant'Eusanio del Sangro, Altino and Casoli
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Art
“La Biscia” by Nunzio Di Stefano
Carrara marble on a pool. In profile it is a water snake, head on a sea monster, from a distance a pair of suspended lips.
Altino, Serranella Oasis
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Nature
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.
from Ortona to San Salvo
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Architecture
The abbey of San Giovanni in Venere
Built where a temple of Venus once stood, it looks out to sea from 107 metres. At the summer solstice the sun comes in through the doorway and lights the crypt.
Fossacesia
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