Overview
Looking for a place off the most famous tourist track, that can give you wellness, relaxation and good food? Canistro, in the province of L'Aquila, is for you.
Beautiful is the etymology of its name, which we like to think comes from the term "canistri", the wicker containers once made in the village and widely exported: in the collective imagination they usually contain good things, to eat, to drink.
Canistro, in fact, is all about drinking.
The village, divided into two settlements - lower and upper Canistro - at an altitude of 554 metres near the Simbruini Mountains, is famous for its oligomineral waters, fed by the Santa Croce spring, which gushes out at an altitude of 750 metres. A fortune as precious as gold, already known for its beneficial properties in Roman times, as shown by some finds discovered in the area of Capistrello (a neighboring municipality to Canistro), in particular amphorae with images of Igea, goddess of health.
At the many public fountains scattered throughout the town you can quench your thirst to your heart's content, filling your canteen or making a little supply to take back home.
It is worth it because it is an "elixir of long life", light and low in sodium and nitrate, which also feeds all the homes in the center, to the delight of its inhabitants.
But in addition to its beneficial water, Canistro is a town with the finest air, all to breathe in fact, it is part of the so-called "breath villages," in which the regulatory standards defined by Agenda 2030 are met, with a focus on respiratory health protection.
Explore with your lungs full of oxygen the La Sponga Park immersed for about 20 hectares in the green of the Simbruini mountain range, at the Sant'Antonio spring! It slides from a thousand meters along the rocks ending its course in the Liri river, the longest watercourse in Abruzzo, which crosses the Roveto Valley: a magical place made of majestic forests in which in the Middle Ages monks erected hermitages and rural churches, which still exist today.
In the park you can spend a day of wellness and relaxation, thanks to picnic areas equipped with tables and barbecues, or organize some excursions, on foot or by e-bike, on the municipal trail network with more than 50 km of trails. These include the "Five Springs and Chestnut Trail", to be taken by mountain-bike, which takes you in about 2 hours to discover the gold of the area to which is also added the autumn fruit of the chestnut groves, the Roscetta chestnut of the Roveto Valley PGI. It is large and round with a smooth surface, reddish brown in colour, but bright red as soon as it is picked (hence the name).
A true queen, deserving of the annual festival dedicated to her in October.
What else to see:
- The Church of San Giovanni Battista
- The church of San Sebastiano
- The Church of the Madonna della Fonticella
- The Vecchiarelli Mancini Palace