Laga Rural Villages Cultural Festival

An itinerant festival through the Laga villages

The Laga Rural Villages Cultural Festival is one of the most original cultural events in the central Apennines. It is not concentrated in a single location, but is an itinerant and widespread festival that unfolds over many months, from April until the Christmas period. Its stages reach about twenty municipalities distributed between Abruzzo, Marche, and Lazio, along the Laga Mountains massif, the Monti Gemelli, the Upper Aterno, and the Acquasanta Apennines. The event is promoted by the association Borghi e Sentieri della Laga OdV together with FederTrek Escursionismo e Ambiente APS, with the patronage of the twenty municipalities in the affected seismic areas.

The festival was created for the cultural revaluation and social regeneration of inland mountain areas, marked by depopulation and the 2016-2017 earthquake. The fifth edition, in 2026, revolves around the theme "Beyond the darkness of the earthquake: human value and cultural heritage in the villages that resist", coinciding with L'Aquila as the Italian Capital of Culture 2026.

The Altavilla and Schiaviano stop, hamlets of Montorio al Vomano

In the Municipality of Montorio al Vomano, in the province of Teramo (Abruzzo), the festival stops in the hamlets of Altavilla and Schiaviano, small rural clusters nestled on the slopes overlooking the Vomano valley, at the gates of the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains National Park. The day combines the two souls of the event: nature walking and cultural exploration, following an itinerary presented as a journey "between history and legends".

The stage opens with an in-depth look at the historical settlements of the two hamlets, led by engineer Domenico Di Baldassarre, who reconstructs the origin and evolution of these rural villages. This is followed by a scenic hike enriched by musical accompaniment and historical insights from scholar Francesco Di Giuliantonio, who guides participants along the local trails.

From the Fonte Vecchia to the ancient oak tree

The hiking heart of the day is the path that winds through the trails of the hamlets, touching the evocative Fonte Vecchia, an ancient community water source, and an ancient oak tree, a monumental tree witnessing the long history of the agricultural and pastoral landscape of the Laga. The walk, scenic in nature and suitable for those who love slow tourism, intertwines nature, the memory of places, and popular storytelling, restoring value to the trails and historical settlements of Altavilla and Schiaviano.

Tasting and conviviality

The stage concludes with a tasting of local specialties, a moment of conviviality designed to bring participants and the community together around the flavors of the Teramo mountain territory. It is the typical formula of the Laga Rural Villages Cultural Festival, which combines hiking, culture, and meetings between those who live in these places and those who visit them.

A widespread and participatory event

Participation in the stage is free but with limited capacity, with a maximum of one hundred participants, and mandatory booking is required. The initiative is part of the spirit of active citizenship of the local Laga communities, which mobilize to welcome visitors and hikers and to make known the tangible and intangible heritage of their villages.