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Hi Francesca.

You have plenty of choice of gaining access to the Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini from Amandola. There’s an interesting legend about Amandola that you might like to research when you are there…I tre castelli e un mandorlo in fiore. I’ll leave it up to you to find out.

Apart from some interesting places such as Montefortino, il borgo incantato (the Pinacoteca in the Palazzo Leopardi has some interesting works of art), il Santuario della Madonna dell’Ambro, Montemonaco and the Montegallo, il sentiero delle stelle, if you enjoy walking I would recommend that you drive up to Forca di Presta, park there and then proceed along the many tracks. This is a great area.

The Piano Grande this time of year is also spectacular with its Technicolor sea of wild flowers (if you let me have your e mail, I’ll send you some photographs so you can see what I mean). Or if you are up to it, you can hike up to the enigmatic Lago di Pilato just under Monte Vettore (approx 4 hours from Foce).

In short, there’s plenty to do and see. I’m sure you will have a great time

Amandola is quite a nice place, loads of brits already in area, for some reason the mountains attract brits., bet it was an ½ûÂþÌìÌà driver who did the coast in 45 minutes ;) Try to make sure you have a run down the Aso valley, lovely...
Ypu could take a look at [url]www.casavecchia.it[/url] if there are no vacancies in Amandola, much nearer the coast.

Hotel Paradiso is run by Oreste Curi who speaks a fair amount of English and is charming. The hotel itself is in a lovely setting with views of the mountains - especially dramatic when there's snow

I would add a walk up the "Gola D'infernaccio" - spectacular river walk, and if you have the stamina for the climb, you end up half way up the mountain at a church built by a hermit who still lives there I think he's called Padre Pietro - I'm sure someone else can correct me if I've remembered it wrong

yes,Amandola is fine and the Paradiso is nice enough.All the other comments about the vicinity are true.The only thing is the business about not having a vehicle (next to impossible) there are one or two buses a day which connect Amandola to the rest of the world.Indeed there are hardly any public services at all in the whole area and Amandola is fifty kms from the nearest rail road at the coast.In fact to enjoy and exploit the area DEFINITELY requies a vehicle of some sort,just a pick up at Pescara airport will start to cost you Euro 100/150 min one way,and to be able to visit the nearby mountains ,local sights,nearby towns,or the numerous festivals in local villages would also require a vehicle.My suggestion would be absolutely to hire a car.If you are interested in looking at the area for a property and this also applies to most of Abruzzo the necessity would be to have a vehicle and be able to drive,it is a must, even more so if one intended to live here.

Dear Friends,
thank you for all your quick replies, of which they have given us plenty to think about. At the moment, we are still awaiting a reply to the e-mail sent.
Kind regards
Frances.

we stay with Oreste at the Paradiso - rather quaint. We also recommend the Contrada Durano in smerillo - they are lovely peole - food excellent, wine flows and conversation endless. But you must have a car for it is up the mountain. We are to live near there in October.... No near Amandola. Janet