Home

.Sports

Snow & sport

Theatre

Thermal Spas

SPORTS

I’m not a great sportsman, but I love walking. Both the mountains and beach offer excellent walking opportunities. When it is ski season, many peers shoot off down the slopes skiing or snow boarding, but I like to just walk through the snow enjoying the views and warm drinks. That is why I like Passo Lanciano, it is excellent walking terrain. Skiers go for Roccaraso, the third biggest ski resort in Italy, just an hour from Lanciano.

Again the sea offers many opportunities for others. I like to swim, and do a bit of light aqua-gym in the summer, and walk along the coast with an ice-cream of course. Others like to go snorkeling, diving or play volleyball.

Around the Bomba and Casoli lakes there is hiking, horse riding, fishing, canoeing and rafting, mountain biking and mountain climbing. As you can imagine I go more for the leisurely boat trip followed by a large lunch over-looking the lake. If I’m really feeling sporty I may hire a pedalò.

There are various indoor and outdoor swimming pools around Lanciano, tennis courts and football pitches.

Tree climbing	Hiking, mountain walks Program from January to July Program from August to December

Events in Lanciano

July, August and the first two weeks in September is a very lively period in and around Lanciano. After Ferragosto (15^th August), Lanciano begins to really fill up and the silly season takes off in a memorable way. There is something to do or see every night for all ages. The crowds grow and activities get more and more extravagant until the arrival of the main festival from the 14^th to the 16^th of September, the biggest date in Abruzzo’s social calendar.

FESTIVALS

A cause for celebration, dancing and eating and drinking too much with the locals. Some festivals are small traditional affairs with a local folk band and food, others like the Lanciano festival are three days of music, fun fairs, processions and fireworks. The Lanciano festival is an attraction for thousands to visit the city and see something unique. The Lanciano festival starts with a four o’clock firework display (am, not pm). The fireworks last about half an hour. You will be surprised how many locals of all ages are out to witness the opening of the festival.

A moving religious festival occurs at the Holy week when a local volunteer from each parish drags a life size crucifix through the streets bare foot. Following him are other people from the parish singing carols. It is a great honour to play the part of Jesus.

At the end of August in Lanciano there is an amazing medieval re-enactment including a long procession in costume, with load drumming and trumpet fanfares. The finale is a competition of strength, sword fighting and fire eaters. Of course, more fireworks.

One thing is guaranteed, you will not get bored.

At Pretoro I witnessed something I was sure would be a terrible experience, the ... snake festival. It actually cured any fears I had towards snakes and helped me understand them. The villagers go out into the hills the morning of the festival and catch as many snakes as they can find. They then walk about the streets with them around their bodies – wild snakes!! But there are very few bites or problems, nobody gets hurt, and before you know it you are having your picture taken with a local snake. If you have a fear of snakes, I suggest you try it out, it will either cure you or send you mad.

Some of the local festivals are quite spectacular. Lanciano is great for the massive diversity of activities over such a long period. At Fara San Martino they let off fireworks with the mountain as a backdrop. At San Vito they have a firework display in the sea.

HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

One of my favourite spectacles is Lanciano’s Cathedral. Its entrance is very grandeur and inside the detail and colours are spectacular. It is a huge building. But what really gets me, is it is built on a bridge.

Another locally famous site is the Abbey near Fossacesia, a fifteen minute drive from Lanciano. It is on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Adriatic sea. The spot seems to attract ever lasting sun light and warmth. The Abbey is a world class example of gothic architecture, and inside are pretty gardens. In the basement of the Abbey are recently discovered frescos. It helps that a nice fish restaurant neighbours the Abbey making the trip even more pleasurable.

Surprisingly, only recently, the original city buildings of Lanciano were discovered beneath one of the existing squares. You can visit the site and journey under Lanciano. One of the local Lanciano churches houses the world famous Eucharistic miracle.

If you like castles, then visit Roccascalegna’s castle, built on to of a volcanic rock. Very spectacular.

The list of my favourite places to visit just goes on. Again, if you are here, let me know the type of thing you would like to visit.

CHILDREN & TEENAGERS

Italians love children which makes it easy to go out with children at any age. They are very family orientated and try to please you whatever you want to do with your children. Children can go to bars, restaurants, pubs, nightclubs – accompanied of course. If an adult can do it children will probably be doing it too.

Playgrounds

Lanciano has two reasonable playgrounds. The best playground is in Fossacesia and caters for a wide age range. There is even room to kick a football about, play hide and seek and cycle with your bike. Most beaches have small play areas for children, the one at San Vito is quite good.

Swimming pools

For small children and aqua-gym there is the “Sporting” swimming pool in Lanciano. For bigger kids and grown ups, there is “L’Uliveto” – a much larger pool. L’Uliveto is covered in the winter and then uncovered in the summer. There isn’t one swimming pool with a baby and grown up pool.

Just after Lama Dei Peligni towards Palena there is a fun out door swimming pool for the summer. There is another similar out-door pool with a slide at Torino di Sangro, too.

Live music

Italians are lively people and they like to go out at night. Many events and a lot of entertainment is publisized by word of mouth, so it is a good idea to make friends with some local people of the same age.

A lot of pubs and bars have live music nights every week which becomes much more frequent from May to September. These are piano bar style set-ups and can be good fun. You can also get Latin American nights and Karaoke.

For a more lively night you can go to a pub near Villa delle Rosa (Wapalù) in Lanciano, or St. Thomas outside Lanciano towards Fossacesia.

In “Zona Fiera”, at the exhibition hall they regularly have folk dancing evenings which is more for the whole family or grown ups. In August they do the same but out-door which is good fun.

Along most of the beaches in the summer period there is a lot going on. Pescara is particularly lively. Again there are bands which play all types of music, discos, pianobars. If you are stuck for something to do in the summer the beach always offers entertainment, no matter what time of the day or night, and it is usually family orientated.

The Polycenter near the Lanciano motorway exit is good for children. There is a bowling alley, a sort of Mexican bar called Gasoline which is quite lively, there is the cinema and usually there are crowds of youngsters window shopping to help pass the time.

A lot of young people just meet at the center of Lanciano and talk and walk and have a drink at a bar before driving to one of the local pubs or go night clubbing in Pescara.

Cocoon is the local night club at Lanciano.

Other things to do

CINEMA There are two multi screen cinemas in Lanciano

MUSIC There are a lot of pubs and the big bars which often have music nights, dancing evenings, piano bars or karaoke

FOLK DANCING There are folk dancing events all year round, but more common in the summer period

LOCAL FESTIVALS From May to September there are many local festivals, some are quite big events with famous groups

THEATRE The Theatre at Lanciano has plays all year round.

BOWLING There is a bowling alley near the motorway exit at Lanciano

List of Bars and Pubs in Lanciano

List of Pizzerias in Lanciano

List of Restaurants in Lanciano

ITALIAN LANGUAGE COURSES OR PLACEMENTS IN COMPANIES Italian is a beautiful language and a real pleasure to learn. You can mix a holiday with a relaxing language course which can help you understand a lot more about the Italians and life in Lanciano. We organise personalised Italian courses so please let us know what type of needs you have and you will need booking in advance. If you want to work in a local company it may also be possible. You will need to stay for at least two weeks. It will be unpaid but will give you the opportunity to really understand Italian working life. Italians are great entrepreneurs and creative people and it can be very useful to understand their way of thinking and their very different working techniques.