Along the southern reach of Abruzzo, vineyards and olive orchards spill directly into the sea, and the ingenuity of the Abruzzese is on full display in the form of the trabocchi, ancient wooden fishing platforms for which the coastline is named. These spindly structures allowed local farmers—historically wary of the open sea—to fish from the safety of a pier; using a complex system of winches and long wooden arms called antenne, they lowered massive nets into the currents to intercept schools of anchovies and mullet.
The coast achieved literary fame through Gabriele D’Annunzio, who famously described these “colossal spiders” while living in San Vito Chietino in 1889. Today, the region’s technical identity is shifting: the decommissioned Adriatic railway has been repurposed into the Via Verde, a cycling path that connects secluded nature reserves, and seasonal restaurants have set up shop inside trabocchi—a must-do while you’re on the coast.
