Italy Panorama

Confetti Stand in Sulmona

Touted as the birthplace of confetti- the pastel, sugary almond confections whimsically arranged into bouquets and handed out at weddings- Sulmona is a sweet-faced city. But it offers much more than a quick glance in the candy shop windows.

Surprisingly upscale, its long main drag boasts trendy shops, pretty palazzi and coffee bars aplenty. The evening passeggiata brings out most of the town, the streets teeming with an endless parade of stylishly-dressed residents laughing and walking, eating gelato, meeting and greeting.

One of the few medieval towns in Abruzzo that is placed in the valley, its level streets, unlike so many hill towns of this period, aren’t so leg-fatiguingly steep they leave you breathless; it has marvelous views of the surrounding mountains for that.

Statue of Ovida

Though several notorious Romans had a hand in Sulmona’s history – Hannibal, Pompey and Marc Antony among them – it is home-town boy turned famous poet, Ovid, who the Sulmonesi revere the most.  He is known as the “love poet,” his popularity perhaps proves that Italians prefer lovers to fighters!

The charming centro storico is bedecked with beautiful architecture.  The town’s lively Piazza Garibaldi is flanked by a stately gothic-arched acqueduct bestowed on the town by Frederick II in the 1250s.  Charming churches, like the Romanesque San Francesco della Scarpa, the Renaissance Chiesa Annunziata, and the Gothic-turned-Baroque Cathedral of San Panfilo, endow the town with differing architectural styles and lovely artwork.  Other piazzas and palazzi stitch the town together into a pretty package.

Piazza Garibaldi

The appeal of Sulmona is complemented by its backdrop of dramatic mountains.  Two national parks cradle the town in its valley, the Parco Nazionale della Majella and the larger, more famous Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso, whose towering peaks are like an alpine skyline.

With all the bustling streets festooned with candy shops and caffes, amazing architecture and scenic beauty, Sulmona is a sweet city indeed.