Roccamorice -- What the heck?

It's good to plan ahead. With this in mind, we sifted through all the atlases at Borders bookstore to pinpoint Roccamorice. We squinted at the map and ran our little digits all over the area of Abbruzzo, where it should have been, but no Roccamorice. We called Joe, our contact in Rocca, to sort it out. He gave us directions and met us when we arrived from Rome.

Roccamorice is a cliff-top village nestled in the moutains of Abbruzzo. Walkers can hear their footsteps on the cobblestones of the quiet narrow alleys. Strollers sigh in deep breaths of alpine air and daydream across vistas of rolling valleys. Hikers quench their thirst from the glacial water that flows freely from fountains. Trails around the area lead to monasteries carved into the mountainside where visitors can pray in the cool halls or picnic on the surrounding slopes.

We stayed two weeks at the Osteria de Belevedere, a quaint epucurian hotel, and might have stayed longer had time been more ample. Without Joe, our stay in Rocca would have been memorable enough, however, with the friendly 77-year-old's guidance and hospitality, our stay was but a dream. . . merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.