Really, we didn’t have time to go to Italy this year because of all the work in the garden and more. But in July, when we realised there would never be summer in Ireland this year, we decided to squeeze in a trip anyway.

We stayed in the usual place in Abruzzo and had some good things planned, but it wasn’t the usual sunny Italy we’re used to. The first few days were very unstable with some rain, and was colder than usual for September. We did our best to escape rain showers and enjoy ourselves anyway.

Lots of good walks in various terrains were done!

Up the overgrown steps to the top of the abandoned village Corvara:

This village was destroyed and then abandoned after the Majella earthquake in 1933. It’s a very fascinating place if you’re into history and abandoned places. We’re drawn to it in an odd way and always want to go back. This time it seemed even more desolate than usual, perhaps because of the season. In the summer I’ve seen signs of people living there, but those houses were now empty.

Pescosansonesco is another village in the area. The old part is in ruins like Corvara, but they built a new village down the hill. There isn’t much in particular to see there and the lovely little restaurant they used to have seems to be closed. But I’ve always loved this house and this tree!

The next day we went up towards Gran Sasso, and instead of visiting Castelli like we normally do, we went to Castel del Monte (that some of you may know about from the George Clooney film “The American”). There was an audio loop of sorts (I never understood how it worked and wasn’t interested either) through the town centre, which to me seemed a bit too commercalised, or something. Couldn’t they just put some info sheets on the buildings? Or is this just another step towards dumbify, aka making the world illiterate (I have so much to say about this)?

We had a nice walk however – I always enjoy strolling around in these medieval villages!

We couldn’t help but take a coffee break and walk in the nearby village Ofena too:

We had some really great weather up the mountain, around 20C and a lovely sunshine, but down below they weren’t so lucky.

So far, so good!

On the Thursday we decided to go on our first proper hike. I had a few routes in mind that we’d check out during this trip. One of them was the Bosco di Lama Bianca, a nature reserve on the Majella near Sant’ Eufemia and Roccacaramanico. It looked lovely on the photos, the weather was good enough, and off we went.

If you know my history of hiking, you know it hasn’t been too successful! I’m happy to tell you that this was a very pleasant trail, challenging but definitely doable, and the main problem was very unclear signposting, scary sounds (there’s plenty of wild animals in this area) and signs there are wild boars frequently on the trail.

It was a fabulous hike, but here’s where the troubles started, and more or less where the Walking in Italy 2024 saga ended.

So, there’s a new foot bummer

On the Friday morning we walked to town to visit the market, it’s 2 km one way, and a nice easy walk. On the way back I started having some discomfort on the top of my right foot. Sounds familiar?

I was scared of course, why wouldn’t I?! As you may know, my recent experience with foot injuries is anything but simple.

But I quickly realised that this was no stress fracture. I’ve had one and this was nothing like that. Also, I hadn’t done anything at all that would have the potential to cause anything serious. Especially considering I’ve been walking 10-15k with plenty of hills at home and had no problems! We immediately suspected that new hiking shoes might have caused the problem, and the only thing that made sense was a tendon issue. I treated it like that, and fortunately it started slowly improving after a few days.

Obviously we had to cancel all other hiking or advanced walking plans, but we could still tour the area to do simple, shorter walks in towns and villages.

Penne

On the Saturday, after putting my Altra shoes on, it was almost pain-free to walk so my husband dropped me off in Penne while he went to the Lago di Penne for a trail run. Penne has a market on Saturdays so I had a look there, and then was able to walk to the top of the centro storico. It went really well and I was so glad I could still move and enjoy myself.

Norcia and Castelluccio

The next day we both had sore feet! My husband needed to take it easy after running 10k on the trail, so we did a longer road trip up north to visit Norcia and Castelluccio, in the region of Umbria. We first visited Castelluccio in 2014 after hearing about the particular flowering of the lentil plants, poppies and more which creates a spectacular scene with the fields exploding in splashes of colour. We fell in love with the place, Castelluccio as well as the nearby bigger town, Norcia.

Then in 2016 a devastating earthquake hit the area. Castelluccio was more or less flattened, and Norcia was severely damaged. We visited both in 2018, and it was very sad to see. Norcia was still quite desolate. Some restoration had been initiated but it was still like a disaster zone. In Castelluccio there was a lot of activity with food vans where restaurants and shops used to be, and I was happy to see the ambition and desire to keep the town going even if most of the buildings were unusable and lots of cleanup still hadn’t been done.

This time it was different. We found a very busy and vibrant Norcia, where full restoration of the cathedral was in progress, and business was in full swing with shops, bars and restaurants open all along the main street. I nearly cried with joy seeing it!

In Castelluccio we did a tasting of some cold cuts and cheese. It was very busy with various shops and bars, still serving from vans or wooden houses on the square, but you could see more work had been done on buildings as well as cleaning up the worst debris. Outside the village there was a new restaurant!

The remainder of the trip was quite soft, we visited various places for short simple walks and coffee in small villages, hung out on the terrace, saw friends and tasted grappa in the local bar.

We enjoyed some multiple-legged company most days:

My walking plans in Italy sadly went down the drain… but we did have a blast anyway.

After leaving Italy, my plan was to fly to Stockholm from Dublin while my husband went to attend the trail race in Wicklow (he did 30k). The trip was a nightmare for my foot (walking through multiple airports etc) and I had a lot of pain when I arrived to my parents. But a few days of rest, as well as my stepfather’s miracle cooling gel (I’ve bought a few tubes of it to take home), worked wonders and I’ve started to improve again. It’s still annoyingly up and down but I’m mostly hopeful.

When I’m back in Ireland next week I’ll see a physio (sadly not THE physio from last year, they said he’s moved away) so hopefully I’ll get some help there.

I’m NOT looking forward to the trip back, but I 100% look forward to coming home and trying to recover and get back to normal.