What It’s Like to Housesit in Atri, Italy
We spent 3 weeks of August, 2023 housesitting just outside the picturesque hilltop village of Atri. Atri lies in Italy’s stunning Abruzzo region east of Rome, across the mountains on the Adriatic coast. There is so much to see, do, and eat in this area, although we had never heard much about it before our time there.
The home we were looking after sat just outside the village of Atri itself. The house had views of the breathtaking sheer mountains behind us and the glimmering Adriatic Sea below us in the distance. Our responsibilities included looking after two wonderful rescue dogs and two indoor cats, as well as looking after a beautiful garden and vegetable patch. It was a wonderful base for checking out the area.
The Abruzzo region has very few foreign tourists, but is a popular holiday destination for Italians. Here are some of the things we really enjoyed:
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The Historic Village of Atri
Atri is perched on a hilltop nearly 450 meters above the shimmering Adriatic Sea. Only 10 kilometers from the coast, it is a fantastic place to base yourself when exploring the Abruzzo region. We were told that the Emperor Hadrian’s (“Adrian”, “Adriatic”) family came from the town. Amazingly, there was a Roman colony there as early as 280 BCE.
The town now has a population of about 13,000. It is a city of culture and has lots of old palaces among its very cute narrow winding streets. There are piazzas with coffee shops, little restaurants, jewelry stores, a couple of museums, and absolutely stunning views in all possible directions.
Take a Walking Tour
On the recommendation of our homeowners, we booked an English speaking walking tour with CulTurA’ Cultura Turismo Ambiente Atri. It was such a wonderful experience. Because there are very few foreign visitors to the town, we were the only participants on the tour. Eleanora, our tour guide, was fantastic. She was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the village, its history, the products, and sights of the area.
The Cathedral
During the walking tour, we visited three churches, including the 13th century Atri Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is a spectacular Romanesque Roman Catholic cathedral with amazing frescos. Also, there is a small portion of glass floor where you can see down to the ancient crypts. These were originally a Roman cistern. Really special. The “town dog” followed us into the church and on part of our walk around. He just sat chilling in the church while Eleanora told us all about the frescoes in the Renaissance style. The national holiday of Ferragosto coincided with our visit. This is the only week that the Holy Door at the side of the church was open, so we got to see it open!
The Palace of the Duke of Acquaviva
Another place we visited was the Palace of the house of Acquaviva which is now the town hall. And we got to see under the palace, which was once a huge Roman cistern. There was even a cool free modern art exhibit on display when we were there.
The Belvedere
One of our favorite stops on the walking tour was the lookout, or view spot: the belvedere. ‘Belvedere’ means ‘beautiful view’, and is not just my favorite vodka ha ha. Here, you can see for miles over what our guide called the ‘badlands’. And you could definitely tell why that is what they call the landscape, because the area looks like something out of a western movie. Additionally, this is where the licorice root is grown in the area.
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Sample Some Licorice
The licorice root grown in the Abruzzo region produces the famous licorice products in Atri. Because of this, there are a few licorice stores in the beautiful town. Our walking tour included a tasting of the different kinds of black licorice from one of the stores. Since we are real licorice lovers we ended up buying quite a bit to enjoy at our housesit. It was so much better than the mass produced stuff you buy in the supermarket!
Head to the Beach
Since Atri is only 10 kilometers from the Adriatic coast, it is only 15-20 minutes by car to the amazing beaches that line the beautiful sparkling blue water. We were there in August, the hottest part of the summer, so we spent quite a few days lounging on sun loungers at Itaca Lido.
Parking at the beach
There are several beaches all along the coast. The most well known beach town in the area is Pineto – which means pines. We found that there are parking areas where you can park; we paid 6 euros for a full day. Have your cash handy to give the attendant! These parking lots are near both Lidos and free beaches. During the August holiday, they were full by midday. When we left our parking spot at lunchtime, there were Italians circling to get our spot. If you get there before 9:30 or 10, you can try to park for free on the verge next to the road. Be careful though: if even a tiny part of your wheels are on the actual road and not the grass, you WILL get a parking ticket!
Free beach or Lido?
We didn’t have our beach chairs and umbrella to take advantage of the free beaches, so we chose to rent these at a Lido, which is a kind of beach club, with rows of umbrellas and chairs, a little cafe, and a restaurant. Because our Italian is rudimentary at best, it took a while for us to decipher how the rental system worked. There was an attendant who spoke about as much English as we spoke Italian, so we slowly figured out the system.
You pay for a set of chairs and umbrella for the day. Each of the tables and chairs are numbered and are priced according to row: the further from the sea’s edge, the cheaper. We chose 4 rows back for 30 euro a day on the days we were there. Apparently, the Italians in the area on holiday reserved umbrella spots for their whole week, because we saw them I the same spots all week, no matter which day we actually went. We managed to reserve an umbrella spot for another day when we had just chanced it a couple of times, but it wasn’t clear how it happened. I checked out their Facebook page, but that didn’t really enlighten me either. It was a mystery, but we made it work!
In August, the weather was hot, and the ocean was lovely and warm. The water was mostly calm, but there were a couple of breezy days when there were waves – not very big. Also, there were gelato carts and kite sellers wandering up and down the whole coast.
Food and Wine
The Abruzzo region is known for its rustic peasant cuisine. We absolutely loved what was on offer. And it was so inexpensive! We did have two favorite places that we visited more than once.
L’Oasi dei Calanchi
By far our favorite, The Oases of Calanchi is actually situated about 15 minutes out of Atri. It has a wonderful breezy terrace with views over the valleys and ridges below. On our first visit, the house kitten made an adorable appearance!
For a starter, I had the stuffed olives, which I had never seen anywhere else before. They were soooooo good! The beautiful olives were stuffed with a pork mince mixture, breaded and fried – totally addictive and amazing. I chose the Nonna Maria both times. Guitar string spaghetti, a to-die-for tomato sauce with tiny little meatballs. It came with a chili oil and parmesan on the side to sprinkle on.
The first time we went, John had a chicken plate with all sorts of accompaniments that he said was delicious. And on the second visit, he chose a raviolo in a creamy lemon sauce. The pasta on both occasions was so fresh and good. We had a liter of wine with our long leisurely lunch and for all this bounty we payed less than 35 euros!! It is now nearly December and I can still taste the meal as I write.
Hostaria Zedi
For an even less expensive experience right in the heart of Atri, we were recommended this very popular restaurant. Although we didn’t book either time we went, we were lucky enough to get a table for lunch. However, it is a really hot day, I recommend trying to make a reservation to get a seat inside with fans, or at least in the marquee where the sun can’t reach you. We have sat inside with the fans and outside on the edge of the marquee where the sun could reach some parts of the table. The inside was definitely better!
The menu is full of the region’s peasant food dishes. There is just about every kind of pasta shape with their tomato sauce (not QUITE as good as L’Oasi dei Calanchi) and a whole lot of meat dishes we didn’t really know what were. John was adventurous and tried the “bits of pork” which was apparently all little leftover parts of pork from all the other cuts. He said it wasn’t bad, but he wouldn’t order it again either! Again, with a carafe of the house wine, we paid less than 30 euros for our meal.
Food Shopping
If you are staying at a place where you can cook your own meals, there are a few places to get groceries.
- Eurospin: In Atri, this was the only place we found that sold ice cubes. They do not sell alcohol in this particular Eurospin (don’t know if that’s across the board or not), but they have just about everything else you might need.
- Conad: We shopped at both the large Conad in Silvi which is near the Lido Itaca where we went to the beach, and at the small local one in the center of Atri. Although they don’t have ice cubes, they do sell wine, beer, and spirits and all the groceries you could wish for.
- Markets: There is a weekly market in Atri as well as all the other local towns. Well worth a visit!
Driving in Abruzzo
We saw buses going through the town, so you may be able to get around the area that way, but we highly recommend hiring a car for the experience, unless you are housesitting and the owners let you use their vehicle.
However, driving in the region of Abruzzo, or most places in Italy for that matter, is not for the faint hearted! Italians have an interesting relationship with road rules. We saw people stop in the middle of a roundabout to have a conversation, pull out of parking lots with no warning, and stay SORT OF to their side of the road.
The roads themselves are steep, narrow, and very poorly maintained. Wavy tarmac and potholes are to be expected. There are steep and deep valleys between every town, so winding up and down the hillsides on very narrow tracks (I swear I thought one was a donkey track) is what you can expect.
John drove and I clutched my pearls the whole time we were there but we survived unscathed in our rented Jeep.
Parle Italiano?
So, do you need to speak Italian to enjoy Atri and the gorgeous region of Abruzzo? Like I mentioned earlier, there are very few international tourists in the area. We found that with the exception of our walking tour guide, the locals spoke very little English. We had prepared by taking Unit 1 of Pimsleur’s Italian and loading up our phones with Google Translate. Although this helped a lot, there were still times when good old hand signals and pointing did the trick. The Italians we tried out our very basic language skills on really appreciated the effort. They were very friendly, and we didn’t feel too lost with these simple skills.
Accommodation in the Abruzzo Region
We full-time travel around the world through travel exchange using platforms like TrustedHousesitters. This lets us arrange accommodation in exchange for pet and home care. You do not have to commit to full-time travel to enjoy this service. Many sitters use the platform to arrange for their yearly vacation.
We spent the night before we left the region in a fantastic little bed and breakfast about 5 miles outside of Pineto on the coast. If you are planning to visit or pass through the area, we can definitely recommend the B&B La Canfora. The host was lovely, the rooms were simple, but clean and comfortable. There was air conditioning (!), and the breakfast was a really nice continental style breakfast with lots of fresh and inviting pastries. There was ample parking too.
Our stay in Atri is one of our standout experiences while housesitting. The region was fantastic, and we would never have thought of going there without the whole housesitting experience. Therefore, we can highly recommend trying it out and we really hope that our schedules will let us come back and sit there again someday.
If you are not arranging your accommodation through housesitting, we recommend checking Booking.com for great rates on a range of accommodation options.
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2 responses to “Italy’s Stunning Abruzzo Region”
Fantastic!
Thanks, Betsy!