we will be staying in Umbria the first few weeks of March and would like to take a trip to Abruzzi, Villa Santa Maria (grandparents are from there)-where is a good place to stay for a night or two in the vicinity, upscale since its a treat for us, and what and where else should we look to see in Abruzzi.......

There was a substantial thread on this topic not too long ago. Try a search. (I'd do it....but I'm tired from a long day -

I'm searching for the thread but cant seem to find anything-can anyone help me?

Hello cogiletto, if you click on Italy next to the Search Box and than type in Abruzzi, Italy in the search box you will see some threads relating to Abruzzi. They are mostly older threads but still interesting. In fact, I may be wrong, but I think there is one about Santa Maria.

I don't think you will find any posts about upscale hotels however. But you might try using Google to see if you can find lodging that would be satisfactory for you. Best regards.

The thread I'm thinking of involved returning to family roots.... can't think how to search for it. You might check out L'Aquila (sp?) for hotels... it's a larger city.

The town of Sulmona is a really atmospheric town. Not many tourists here, but everyone out on the streets in the early evening. Interesting aquaduct and town square. They are known for making artistic flowers out of candy and the candy stores look like flower shops. Don't know about upscale places to stay as we took pot luck there and our place was clean, but not upscale.