Region |
Abruzzo |
Country |
Italy |
Morphology of the land |
Plain: 0%
Hill: 35%
Mountain: 65%
|
Climate and soil |
The influence of the sea mitigates the Abruzzo coastline, making the climate mild and Mediterranean. The interior part of the region has a more continental climate with cold Winters and very hot Summers. Rain and snow fall in abundance from the Winter period until Spring. A constant drought characterises the Summer. |
History |
The Region began to call itself Abruzzo from the Latin Aprutium, in the Middle Ages, then later with the Kingdom of Naples it was divided into 2 parts: Abruzzo Ulteriore and Abruzzo Citeriore. In 1860 with the Unification of Italy, Molise was also annexed to the region, where it took the name of Abruzzi and Molise, from which it was separated in 1963. |
Typical products |
The Abruzzo region, in recent years has produced different but good wines from the Montepulciano and Trebbiano vines, with excellent quality / price ratio. Controguerra, the last area to obtain the DOC in Abruzzo (1196) has already been noted is for its red wine, made with Montepulciano in combination with Cabernet Sauvignon and / or Merlot, and for the white from Trebbiano, Passerina and several other native vines. Among the best producers there are Dino Illuminati, Gianni Masciarelli, Camillo Montori and Orlandi Contucci Ponno. |
Typical dishes |
Extra virgin olive oil production is growing strongly, especially in terms of quality, with the Aprutino Pescarese, the Colline Teatine and the Pretulziano delle Colline Teramane, all three PDOs. Some very popular first courses there are the fregnacce, homemade pasta cut into large pieces, topped with meat sauce and plenty of pecorino and the 'scripelle 'mbusse', a kind of crêpe rolled with grated cheese and served in chicken broth. Among other dishes to taste is the 'brodetto alla pescarese', prepared with redfish, skate, octopus, gattuccio, scampi, mussels, chilli, tomato and onion. The beans of Paganica are famous as are the cicerchie and lentils of Santo Stefano di Sessanio, the vegetables of the Fucino plateau, the red garlic of Sulmona. For desserts there is the 'cassone sulmonese', a sponge cake stuffed with crunchy nougat cream, 'cicerchiata', tiny, light, sweet dough balls first fried and then tied with honey, with the addition of coloured sprinkles, the calgionetti and fried desserts with cooked must and spices inside, sweet pizza made of sponge cake in layers soaked with Centerbe, coffee and alchermes, filled with vanilla and chocolate cream. |
Red grape varieties |
Merlot, Montepulciano, Sangiovese
|
White grape varieties |
Bombino Bianco/Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, Chardonnay, Passerina, Trebbiano Toscano
|
DOCG |
,
|
DOC |
,
,
,
,
Ortona
,
,
Tullum o Terre Tollesi
,
Villamagna
|
IGT |
Alto Tirino
,
,
Colli del Sangro
,
Colline Frentane
,
,
,
Del Vastese o Histonium
,
,
|