Italy Guide
Abruzzo and Molise
Scanno
Accessible by bus from Sulmona, SCANNO is another popular tourist destination, reached by passing through the narrow and rocky Saggitario Gorge, a spectacular drive along galleries of rock and around blind hairpin bends that widen out at the glassy green Lago di Scanno. Scanno itself is a well-preserved medieval village encircled by mountains. In 1951, Henri Cartier-Bresson photographed the village, in a series of atmospheric shots focusing on the tradional dress worn by Scanno's women. Some elderly women can still be seen wearing the long, dark, pleated skirts and bodices with a patterned apron that suggest a possible origin in Asia Minor. Scannese jewellery also has something of the Orient about it – large, delicately filigreed earings, and a star, known as a presuntuosa, given to fiancées to ward off other men. If you want to see the costume and jewellery at close quarters head for the shops on Strada Roma and Corso Centrale.
If you're around in August, you might catch Scanno's summer festival, with a series of cultural events and fireworks shows held throughout the month (see 
www.scanno.org or contact the tourist office), and on January 17 there's a lasagne festival – more properly called the Festa di San Antonio Abate.