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Pescara, Tales from the Sea – A New Collection of Prints
Sep
Internal Thoughts: ” Summer’s here, and Florence is hot as usual. I wonder if there is a place I can go that has a beach, is someplace I’ve never been, that I can access via train, that might be worth checking out more in depth in regards to livability, and where I can also take some interesting photos to justify it as a work trip….Rimini? No, looks too crazy. Bari? Too far. Ohhh Pescara looks perfect!”
This is basically how I made the decision to spend 10 days in Pescara this summer. I had never spent any significant time in Abruzzo before, and seeing that it was a place on the sea with a train station, and an airport I decided to pull the trigger, packed my bags, and headed out!
The train ride was seamless. I had one connection in Bologna, and the rest of the ride was an easy route down the eastern coast of Italy to Pescara. I took my Onewheel with me, so it was an easy ride from the train station to my apartment with my bags. As soon as I met the hosts, they were so nice and super helpful. I told them that I was a photographer doing some research, and besides that I would just hopefully be going to visit the beach every day to relax and take pictures. They could tell this trip was something that was I really looking forward to, so they were more than willing to help answer my questions and give me some local tips, which I always love 🙂
I checked-in and got out of the house to take a quick look around the area, and I immediately found that within two minutes from my house I had three grocery stores and, right across the street, a coffee shop: the perfect spot for co-working and grabbing breakfast, lunch or an aperitivo. Sweet!
As you can tell my adventure started on a rather positive note, and I couldn’t wait to start getting lost in the city.
After taking a quick stroll and picking up some essentials, it was time to head out again towards Pescara’s Old Town, or Pescara Vecchia, which was just around the corner from the place I rented. Walking around it, it seemed to consist of something like two or three small (but cute) streets with the typical old characteristic Italian buildings. The next morning I returned to the same area, and during the early morning I found it to be quite empty and peaceful. Later I would discover that this area of town is a great place to go out in the evening, with plenty of restaurants and bars to try, and is mostly popular with the younger crowds.
Pescara in general is filled with sporadic architectural gems. Just take a look at Butter Rum: I can just feel the warmth of the summer air resonating from the walls.
I had also read Pescara was heavily damaged during World War Two, so I was surprised when I found out it has a collection of liberty-style buildings still intact. A few buildings that were impossible to miss can be see in: POSTE and Teatro Michetti , which are only a few examples, but you can find more by clicking the button below to see the full Pescara collection 😉
Butter Rum
Pescara, Italy
POSTE
Pescara, Italy
Teatro Michetti
Pescara, Italy
Trippin’ in Pescara
Pescara, Italy
The next day I took the time to go and walk around a bit farther with my camera to take some shots and get to know the layout of the city a bit more. Exploring the area I immediately noticed something that surprised me: there was a great contrast of pretty modern architecture and older-style buildings.
I didn’t really think of Pescara as being a very modern city, but what I found was that there was actually a great mix of architecture style, as you can see in Trippin’ in Pescara. Perhaps not necessarily modern in architectural terms, but certainly in color and vibe.
Sometimes when you go to these smaller cities, especially those that were bombed during the world wars and rebuilt, you just find all those buildings built in 70s and 80s that aren’t very visually pleasing, but Pescara was an exception: I really did find some interesting colors, bridges, and a building styles which are super awesome.
Twelve Nineteen
Pescara, Italy
Astronave
Pescara, Italy
Air Waves
Pescara, Italy
If you haven’t caught on yet – I honestly think Pescara is very cool.
It didn’t feel like it was just a dated, sleepy town, and I definitely felt that there was quite a bit of life there. Of course, considering it is located right on the sea, it probably benefits from the beach vibes, too, which I love.
Pescara is also dotted with beautiful green areas and trees, which is a welcoming contrast to Florence’s historical center. This tree in particular is actually shaped like this, which is super unique. The perspective here is actually just looking straight up. The tree almost lives as to challenge our perception of the direction that a tree should grow, and I love it.
The Curious Tree
Pescara, Italy
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Usually when I go to a new place I don’t really do a lot of research in advance and, especially if I’m going to be there for a longer amount of time, I like to take it one day at a time and see where my lens take me.
For this reason it took me probably two or three days to actually find the “live” part of the city, as I was staying far from from the city center and I had mistakenly thought Pescara Vecchia was the actual center of the city.
But then I actually found out the actual city center is basically centered around a street called Via Firenze (Go figure!).
All Eyes Upon the Ship
Fontana la Nave represents a “galea”, an ancient vessel that evokes the past of the city.
Once I discovered Via Firenze, I found out that Pescara is actually a more socially vibrant city than I imagined!
There’s a lot of shopping options, restaurants and bars, and Via Firenze itself is a beautiful street with this black and white checkered pattern. Via Firenze connects with Corso Umberto I which you can take directly to the sea where you can find a statue of an ancient ship with a very interesting backstory.
I could definitely find plethora of different things to do and sites to see, a crazy mix of different colors and different architecture styles, and I definitely did not get bored walking around there.
You could go from futuristic buildings straight out of a sci-fi movie (as seen in Labyrinthian), to a modern-day triumph of colors (Pescara and the Ballad of Colors) and then jump back in time on the iron bridge of Irony.
I spent most of the week working in the mornings until around noon, then I would take a break and get down to the sea on my Onewheel.
It took me about eight minutes, so I would just take my board to the sea, and go lay out in the sun for a couple hours.
I would then head to a coffee shop, and do some work on my laptop for three or four hours. Finally, I would get a drink somewhere, and then I would head back to my apartment for the day.
Honestly that was kind of like my life on loop for eight or nine days, just kind of relaxing in the sun and taking time to shoot in between.
I was probably walking at least between 13,000 and 20,000 steps a day which was awesome exercise.
Thankfully it wasn’t quite as hot as as it was in Florence, so just being outside getting some rays, being able to just take in the sun without feeling like it was gonna die- it was something that I really needed and I definitely benefited from :D.
Something that I really enjoyed about Pescara is that along the seaside there’s also the Pescara Lungomare, which is basically ~10 kilometers of this well-kept bike and walking path that goes all along the sea, and it was honestly just such an easy way to traverse the city.
Abruzzo Beach Vibes
Pescara, Italy
Not to mention that there is seemingly thousands of Bagni (sunbathing facilities) that are located all along the shore which was honestly pretty amazing. Even though I personally am a fan of Spiaggia Libera (free beach), I could not resist trying a few places to have a couple drinks there on the sea which was quite nice. These Bagni are also filled with locals, so it’s nice to stop by there to have a nice snack and a drink in a nice ambiance.
Pescara Lungomare
Pescara, Italy
Beyond stopping by the sea for a drink with my book in hand, I also found a great Craft beer place that I really enjoyed called Shaka Brew. The guys there were super nice- I even made a new friend named Roberto, and we actually ended up hanging out a few times while I was there, grabbing a beer or a burger.
It really amazed me how nice people were, and it was quite a relief to be able to connect with locals, just having them talk to me about their city and helping me with some suggestions and places to try.
As I’ve mentioned before – I’ve been considering moving to another Italian city, so during this trip in particular, I was also doing a bit of research to see if Pescara would be an interesting option.
First things first: I went in search of a taco place and found La Revoluciòn Taco Bar, which was honestly quite good. Apparently one of the owners is from Mexico, and he helped in creating the menu.
The other important thing for me was to find a sushi place, and so I found Shabu Shabu, and I was honestly super impressed. The decor of this place was amazing – even if the restaurant itself was a bit chaotic; being an all you can eat place where you order with an iPad, I would definitely recommend it as the food was good.
I also found a pizza place that made Neapolitan style pizza, which was really good called O’Piccirill.
My favorite place that I went to almost every day was actually Il Panettiere & La Massaia – it was like a caffe bakery that also made great cocktails. It was super comfortable to work there for a few hours, and the staff were so friendly and accommodating. When I asked for a Crodino (one of my go-to beverages when I’m not ready for an aperitivo yet) and they didn’t have one, they introduced me to Cocktail San Pellegrino, which was honestly spot on. Now I know I have some alternative options!
I also found a 24/7 grocery store near the Pescara Porta Nuova train station, which was a total surprise for me considering in Florence the grocery stores close at around 9pm. Pescara also has an airport nearby – which is served by Ryanair as well, and you can get from Pescara to Rome in about 3 hours by train.
Abruzzo itself was really what captured my attention: it’s considered The Green Lung of Europe! And did you know that 75% of Europe’s wild fauna live in Abruzzo? I was honestly amazed to hear that. Considering we’re definitely missing trees and nature in Florence – who knows. Maybe some day we’ll find ourselves calling this seaside town in Abruzzo home. If you enjoyed this post – please check out my full Pescara collection by clicking the link below 🙂
Until next time-
– Scott 😉
Wait, you’ve been in Pescara 10 days and you never tried out arrosticini??? BIG MISTAKE!!
Come back asap and try them, it’s probably the most famous recipe of our traditional foods!
Ciao Alessandro! I actually had arrosticini many times while I was there 🙂 I ate them so quickly I forgot to take a photo of them, so they didn’t make it into this blog post 🙂 Next time!
Thank you so much for giving us your perspective on our city. Unlike lot of other Italian cities, Pescara is a lively place that has begun to establish its own identity just a few years ago, doing so in a period in which the desire to cut links with the past has quite completely disappeared. Almost every family from Pescara has its roots in the hinterland and maintains strong relationships with its village of origin, which gives everyone the benefit of being able to fully live the present and imagine the future without feeling too lost. Just going out a little from the city you can reconnect with a majestic and wild nature, immersing yourself in timeless villages, places where you feel protected, and then returning to the city appreciating modernity without taking it for granted. This too is the strength of this city, loved by its inhabitants like few others. I hope you will want to return to Abruzzo and explore our coasts, our countryside and our mountains, you will discover a world in which you can breathe that particular feeling that we abruzzesi are developing: that desire to save the past and the nature without despising the progress. Greetings!
Thanks for sharing Fabrizio, and I’m glad you appreciate my post 🙂 Spending some time in Pescara, and speaking with some people that are from the area – I was certainly inspired to discover more of Abruzzo. I’m very confident that I will return to Pescara, and also venture out to explore more towns and beautiful nature in Abruzzo as well. Cheers 🙂