You awake to a view of golden beaches… the sea rolling out from them like a giant bolt of turquoise silk.
You linger in bed… then step out on to your terrace to feel the warm sun on your face.
Before you the sea… behind you wildflower-covered mountainsides.
It’s springtime, and the gently rolling hills are alive with lavender, daffodil, iris, and crocus blossoms… with cherry trees ablaze all around.
Between the mountains and the sea lie seemingly endless vineyards and olive groves… the region’s signature landscape.
You want to pinch yourself. This can’t be for real… this can’t really be your life now… this can’t be where you call home…
But it is.
No overcrowding, no heavy industry, no pollution, no traffic, no stress…
Hidden away down the winding roads of this unique region are castles, vineyards, and villages of stone and memory.
In many ways, life in this glorious corner of the Old World hasn’t changed much over the centuries. Sure, you’ve got all the modern conveniences of 21st-century living… but arriving here is like waking up in a kinder, gentler yesterday… a time with little or no crime and neighbors who watch out for each other.
Old ladies in pinafores bring their chairs outside and sit in groups to chat and string onions into plaits…
Young boys play soccer outdoors… not computer games on their living room couches…
Families shop at open-air markets, not hypermarkets—and if they don’t produce their own wine, they buy it from their neighbors’ vineyards…
Relatively unknown to foreign visitors, this sparsely populated region is where central Italy merges into the languid realms of the deep south. Even though many parts of the area are only an hour or two’s drive from Rome, this undiscovered land clings to its secret feel.
This region of Italy is also a place where, come wintertime, you can ski lazily down a gentle slope, the sun on your face… while enjoying the view ahead, in the distance, of the glittering Adriatic coastline.
Here you find one of the most glorious city beaches anywhere in Europe… backed by high mountain ranges that attract weekend skiers from Rome. They come for the excellent skiing in a beautiful setting… the delightfully uncrowded slopes… and the temptingly low cost of it all. A daily lift pass is all of US$23.
In spring, it’s possible to combine a morning shushing and sliding down the still-powdery Apennine slopes with an afternoon sunning on the beach and swimming in the sea…
How many places in the world is that possible?
Yet very few from outside the country even know the region by name.
Have you long daydreamed of la dolce vita in Tuscany?
A burnt orange countryside sprinkled with crumbling villas with stucco walls the color of old roses… fields of sunflowers… and silvery olive groves…
Some of the world’s most celebrated art… architecture… and cities… from Florence and Pisa to Siena and San Gimignano…
Tuscany is a delight, no question… but Tuscany doesn’t work for everyone’s budget.
However, you don’t have to live in Tuscany to embrace a Tuscan lifestyle…
If you don’t have a Tuscany-friendly nest egg, simply adjust your compass ever so slightly east… and then a little south…
And you discover:
Abruzzo.
Abruzzo is a region of unspoiled national parks, pristine sandy beaches, Roman ruins, and quiet villages that has been called “the greenest spot in Europe.”
By all rights, Abruzzo should be as well-known as Tuscany. Yet even regulars to Tuscany, Umbria, Puglia, and the rest of the bel paese have never set foot in it.
Here in Abruzzo you can have the best of a Tuscany lifestyle… the rolling hills… the landscapes… the classic Tuscan architecture…
Indeed, Abruzzo has everything Tuscany has—but at a fraction the cost.
A couple could live here comfortably on US$2,232 a month or less.
In fact, we’d argue that Abruzzo has Tuscany beat… at least on some scores.
In Abruzzo, for example, you find something that Tuscany has lost.
Abruzzo represents the real Italy. This is a traditional region where life remains slow-paced and low-key…
Making it the perfect escape for would-be retirees… and anyone else yearning for a return to the values of what, in much of the world today, can seem like a long-gone yesteryear.
Italy’s Abruzzo offers a chance to step back into a simpler time… to a lifestyle that you might have been able to enjoy in 1950s America… but with lots more wine and pasta!
Kathleen Peddicord
