Abruzzo · L'Aquila
Scanno
A 1,057-meter Sagittario valley village where women in black still walk the alleys photographed by Cartier-Bresson and Giacomelli.
- Best time
- Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- By car
- 1 h 20 min from Pescara
- Population
- 1,697
Known for
PHOTOGRAPHY
Cartier-Bresson photographed Scanno in 1951, Giacomelli's series 1957-59 made the women in black one of the most reproduced Italian images.
PRESENTOSA
Filigree star pendant with two hearts in the centre, traditionally given by the groom's family to the bride, still made by village goldsmiths.
HEART-SHAPED LAKE
Largest natural lake in Abruzzo at 922 meters, formed by a Monte Genzana landslide that blocked the Tasso river.
When to visit
Best · Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- J6°
- F9°
- M9°
- A12°
- M17°
- J23°
- J27°
- A26°
- S21°
- O17°
- N11°
- D8°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Eustachio, 20 September
Why come
Scanno sits in the Sagittario valley, ringed by the Majella foothills and the Marsicano massif. The lake lies three kilometers down the valley from the town, at a lower elevation, so the walk between them moves from stone alleys to open water framed by the same slopes that produced it: a landslide off the mountain dammed the Tasso river and left the basin behind.
The town's isolation, closed in by the surrounding massifs, is what let the older costume and its headdress survive into the era of the camera, and it is what drew photographers to record it rather than something they invented. The goldsmiths' filigree, made in the same stone streets the women walked, belongs to the same thread: a village shaped by its enclosure in the mountains, still making by hand what it has always made.
The Sunday letter
Scanno is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Scanno comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The button takes you to the letter's own page on Substack, where you leave your email. About the letter
Read on
Scanno in our articles
The 6 best small towns that eat well in the province of L'Aquila6 towns, Scanno among them.
The best hidden towns inside a national park that eat well within 90 minutes of Pescara6 towns, Scanno among them.
The prettiest villages inside a national park in the province of L'Aquila6 towns, Scanno among them.
The prettiest small villages that eat well within 90 minutes of Pescara7 towns, Scanno among them.
How to get there
From Rome (FCO), about 2h 35m by car.
Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 2h 49m away.
By car from the centre of Pescara 1h 20m or Ancona 2h 50m.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Scanno is about 1h 21m away by road.
What to see
Lago di Scanno
Seen from above, the water reads as a clean heart shape against the valley walls.
Centro storico
Stone-alley medieval centre where the black costume, with its folded headdress some historians trace to Balkan or Eastern origins, is still worn by older women against limewashed walls.
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Valle
Parish church first documented in the eleventh century, rebuilt in the seventeenth, with a Renaissance portal and Baroque interior.
Madonna del Lago
Small lakeside chapel of the Santissima Annunziata on the south shore, with its altar built against a natural rock wall.
Sentiero del Cuore
Footpath above the lake leading to the viewpoint where the heart-shape becomes visible, passing the Eremo di Sant'Egidio hermitage.
Botteghe orafe di Scanno
Goldsmith workshops in the centro storico producing filigree jewelry, including the presentosa, the betrothal star pendant of the Sagittario.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Scanno fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We recommend
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Terra dell'Albergo Centrale ScannoRistorante
Terra dell'Albergo Centrale Scanno has one Gambero Rosso fork (77/100) to its name.
Through the year
What happens here
Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.
DeguScannofood festival
usually held in November. sagritaly.com
Living here
- Population 1,697, down 11.9% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Remotei
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Nearest public hospital Castel di Sangro, 21 km as the crow flies
- Full fibre reaches 98% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Nearest airport Rome, 2 h 35 min drive
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 19 min drive
Could you live here?
Scanno is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,697. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Sulmona, is 42 minutes away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Chieti, a city of 48,455, is 1 h 10 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City. The rest of the series, and the best towns to move to, arrive in the Sunday letter.
The button takes you to the letter's own page on Substack, where you leave your email. About the letter
Common questions
- What is Scanno known for?
- Scanno is a 1,057-meter Sagittario valley village where women in black still walk the alleys photographed by Cartier-Bresson and Giacomelli.
- Where is Scanno?
- Scanno is a comune in the province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo, at 1057 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Scanno?
- Rome (FCO), about 2h 35m by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Scanno?
- About 1h 20m by car.
- When is the best time to visit Scanno?
- Best in Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar. July is the warmest month, averaging 27 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Scanno?
- Yes. DeguScanno. November is when the first of them falls.
- Which other towns are like Scanno?
- Pescasseroli, Geraci Siculo and San Vito di Cadore.
- How many people live in Scanno?
- 1,697 at the 2023 count.
- Is Scanno a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Scanno is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Sulmona, is 42 minutes away. The nearest city, Chieti, is 1 h 10 min away by car. The nearest public hospital is in Castel di Sangro, 21 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 98% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 1057 m
- Population: 1,697
- Surface area: 134.68 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Featured on
Scanno appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
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