Schiavi d'Abruzzo: two Samnite temples overlooking the Trigno valley

There are places in Italy where great ancient history comes with neither a queue nor a timed ticket. One of them is the Italic sanctuary of Schiavi d'Abruzzo, in the province of Chieti, perched in the locality of Colle della Torre among the mountains that descend towards the Trigno valley. Here, far from the well-worn routes, two temples from the Samnite era still gaze at the mountains as they did more than two thousand years ago.

The two temples

The complex is made up of two buildings standing side by side. The larger temple, roughly 21 by 11 metres, dates from between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd century BC and preserves its base and the front stairway that climbed towards the cella. Beside it, at the start of the 1st century BC, a second, smaller temple was added, without a podium and preceded by an altar. The sanctuary was frequented intermittently until the 4th century AD; a landslide in the 14th century marked its definitive abandonment.

The setting

What strikes you is not only the antiquity of the stones, but the setting. The site is immersed in greenery, with the remains of the walls and steps emerging from the grass, and before you the gaze runs freely over the valleys and the Apennine ridges. There are no crowds, no dense barriers, no megaphones: often you walk among the foundations with only the wind and the sounds of the countryside for company.

Slow travel

Visiting it is a small act of slow travel. The village of Schiavi d'Abruzzo is one of the many inland towns struggling against depopulation, and coming all the way up here means bringing attention, and a little presence, to a land that needs it. It is best to check the opening hours of the site beforehand and to bring comfortable shoes: the road climbs and the site is on a slope.

Those seeking an authentic alternative to the great crowded archaeological parks will find a rare experience here: millennia-old history, a stern landscape and silence. A sanctuary that rewards anyone with the curiosity to climb to where the roads end and the memory of the Italic peoples begins.

Related guides: Abruzzo in 3 days at a slow pace: the villages of the Gran Sasso away from the crowds.

Getting there

The Italic temples of Schiavi d'Abruzzo look out over the upper Trigno valley, on the border with Molise. By car you leave the A14 at Vasto and head up the Trigno valley along the SS650 state road, then climb to the village on the provincial road. The reference coastal town for train and services is Vasto-San Salvo; the nearest airport is Pescara.