Scanzano

Scanzano, a hamlet of Sante Marie, is one of the most evocative villages of the western Marsica, a small jewel of stone houses that line up along the only road that runs along the ridge, surrounded by a pristine landscape of woods and mountains.
It is also a country rich in history, with important remains from the ancient and medieval periods, as well as noble palaces from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that exhibit valuable facades along the course.
The town rises on a spur of the southern slope of Mount Faito at about 900 m. from which dominates the Macina Valley, wild and wooded, dotted with small villages perched on the mountains, which is the continuation towards the SE of the highest Val de 'Varri.
In ancient times the valley was an important road axis that connected the Reatino and the Valle del Salto with the Piani Palentini, along which built inhabited centers, pagan sanctuaries and later monasteries and castles.It is bordered to the north by a long mountain ridge that culminates with Mount Faito which dominates the surrounding landscape with imposing limestone cliffs. The opposite side of the valley is formed by less elevated hills, the Serre, beyond which stands the endless green bastion of the Simbruini mountains.

There are many events taking place in Scanzano.
Among other festivities there is the religious celebration of the Madonna del Rosario which is held on the first Sunday of October. On this occasion the statue of the Virgin is carried in procession from the Church of Sant Athanasius to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria.
The cult, deeply felt by all the inhabitants, is closely connected to the female world: in fact, it is only women who deal with the organization of this holiday, in all its aspects, as always and only women are those who, by arm, they carry in procession the statue of the Madonna on the long climb that leads to the sanctuary.
One of the most characteristic manifestations involving the whole community of the village is "Vicoli e Piazzette" which is held on August 20th, two years ago.
This is a food and wine festival conceived by the Scanzano Pro-loco in order to enhance and pass on local traditions.Also this year the event involved the whole country that, for a day, opened its cellars, its courtyards and its houses to anyone who wanted to participate; the typical dishes, prepared according to traditional recipes, were offered in the most suggestive places of the country. So you can taste, for example, the cacio e ova meatballs or the fried pizza next to a small church now abandoned, the kebabs under an ancient dovecote tower, the polenta in the courtyard of the farm building and the donuts at the foot of the medieval castle.
Each dish was freshly prepared with ancient irons and along the alleys the tools of country life, clothes, outfits and everyday objects are displayed. An atmosphere of other times in which you breathe the simplicity and ancient wisdom of country life and where you recognize the genuine hospitality of the Community Hospitable Marsicana.