Sakra is a seven-day, six-night journey through Abruzzo's Valle Subequana, based in the hilltop village of Castel di Ieri for a maximum of 6 to 8 travellers. Tours run in Italian and English, with other languages available on request, and the walking pace, which includes uneven gorge paths and stone steps into two hermitages, is not suited to travellers with limited mobility.
The week opens in Castel di Ieri itself, where the medieval tower and the churches of Santa Croce and Santa Maria Assunta open onto a welcome aperitivo, held some evenings at the Italic Temple. The next morning climbs through the woods to the Hermitage of the Madonna di Pietrabona, cut directly into the rock of a gorge, before the walk continues down to Goriano Sicoli for lunch.
A full day in Sulmona follows, centred on the town's confetti museum, where the craft of shaping sugared almonds has been passed down as a trade rather than a tradition on display. From there, a transfer to Raiano leads to the Hermitage of San Venanzio, built into the cliff above the Aterno River, reached along a gorge walk past murals that record the village's own history on its walls.
Castelvecchio Subequo comes next, and with it the church and convent of San Francesco, where fourteenth-century frescoes sit alongside the remains of Superaequum, the Roman settlement that gave the valley its name. The sixth day, the longest of the week, moves through Secinaro and up to the Prati del Sirente, a high plateau still marked by an ancient impact that scientists continue to study.
The final morning is spent in a workshop with a local craftsperson or producer, so the week ends with something made by hand rather than bought.
