Irrespective of whether you fly into Italy via Pescara or Rome – or anywhere else come to that – if you follow the directions we'll have sent you to our Abruzzo rental villas, when you come off assorted autostrade and superstrade, the first town you're going to drive through is Selva di Altino.

Because the view of the Maiella rates 10 on the WOW scale, you – like us on our first visit – will probably drive through Selva di Altino without even noticing it. But tear your eyes off the mountains for a moment, because not only are the views going to get even better the closer you get to us, but there are places in Selva you'll want to remember.

Ladies and Gentlemen: the World and European Pizza Champions, 2005
No, it's not a wind-up. There really are World and European Pizza Championships and in the space of a couple of heady weeks in 2005, the team at Il Bosco delle Meraviglie won both. 'The Wood of Wonders', or just simply Il Bosco, is on the right-hand side of the road as you head through Selva towards the mountains.

See the line at the bottom of the sign ? Forno a Legna. It means 'wood burning oven' – the traditional pizza oven – and it's your guarantee of pizza wonderfulness, satsifyingly and greed-indulgingly huge, with thin, puffed-up, wood-charred, crispy crusts and toppings, at least twenty of them – including their famous 'white' pizzas – that make choosing a pleasurably lingering process. 

Try:

- our favourite topping: with mozarella, gorgonzola and taleggio

- or fresh, locally-made pasta. Plump cushions stuffed with fresh ricotta and walnuts and drizzled with a balsamic vinegar sauce

- or a proper, traditional Bistecca alla Fiorentina with all the trimmings, char-grilled and served with head-turning style and swagger

Feast on a couple of pizzas and a litre of the house Montepulciano d'Abruzzo for under €25. Enjoy the feel-good factor for some time after.

Sweets For My Sweet
Should you ever get asked round for a meal by Italian friends, don't take a bottle of wine. Instead, as tradition dictates, arrive with a box of pastries from the local pasticceria. But why wait for a dinner invitation ? Lie back in your Abruzzo rental villa with a cup of fresh coffee – or indeed another glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo or Trebbiano – and indulge yourself with what I absolutely guarantee are pastries of unsurpassed irrestitability from Pasticceria Pierrot.

Before you get to Il Bosco, and again on the right-hand side of the main road, you'll see the Pasticceria Pierrot sign. The entrance, down a short flight of stairs at the side of the building, isn't promising, but belies the delights inside. The picture above shows some of the €4-worth of the freshly-made pastries we bought strictly to research this blog. (Yeah, right).

• shortbread stars dusted with icing sugar
• home-made cantucci so good you'll never, ever eat mass-produced versions again
• crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside cookies smeared with tangy lemon icing
• and my own absolute favourite. See the two little gems with an almond on top, looking a bit like mini-macaroons on the far left and top right ? They're an abruzzese speciality, laden with ground almonds and scented with the region's famous Centerbe – 'hundred herbs' – liqueur. And they're so good, they'd make a Bishop kick in a stained-glass window to get one.

And more. Many, many more pastries. Cakes made with fresh ricotta. A freezer-full of ice cream desserts. Smilingly served. Beautifully wrapped. Indulge yourself. You're in Abruzzo and you're on holiday.

Is That It ?
A couple of supermarkets with excellent deli counters; ATM machine; two petrol stations; post office; hardware store; more bars and restaurants; a great florist/gift shop; two or three hairdressers, the best fresh fruit-and-vegetable warehouse in the province (and possibly even all Abruzzo) and just out of town on the road to Casoli, a singularly-swish emporium if you're in the mood for some serious designer-label shopping. Will that do ?

Please Tell Me It's Not Too Far
The news is good. From your rental villa to Selva will take a little over 10 minutes.

(Click on pictures in text for larger images)

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Eating and Drinking, Where To Go. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.