The Ancient Life
During the 1940s, for professional reasons, the teacher and journalist Fernando Aurini spent time in Valle Piola. To the wonderment of his readers living in the grand cities of Italy, Aurini vividly recounted the rustic ways, lifestyles, and long forgotten archaic traditions of this small village. Aurini's writings highlight the fact that the journey to Teramo via Campli on foot or with a mule took the better part of four hours. To the present this path by foot requires a difficult hike across Monte Natale in an area known as Pietra Stretta. The trial begins with an easy incline and soon enters a mound of trees and tangled undergrowth so thick that it requires the frequent surveillance and clearing by the local park employees and woodsmen. One then encounters a steep upward slope to the mountain summit resulting in a panoramic view of the valley below. In the early morning hours one can see the sun's rays illuminating nearby Monte della Farina with Valle Piola at its base.
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