Visiting Collelongo means being able to live many experiences, ranging from history to nature. Collelongo, immersed as it is in its wild mountain nature, offers the possibility to every person who passes or stays here to undertake numerous types of itineraries.

 

Valle di Amplero. (Immagine personale

 

Percorso per il sito archeologico di Amplero. (Immagine personale)

 

Percorso per Amplero da fare in bicletta.

 

They range from simple walking itineraries for the Vallelonga in the plains, to the itinerary up the local mountains, or you can complete an itinerary of nature and culture, climbing through the woods of the Valle d’Amplero, until you reach the archaeological site homonymous, where the vision of the ruins of the Marso-Roman village of Amplero will satisfy anyone who comes.

 

Resti del sito archeologico di Amplero. (Immagine da Wikipedia)

 

Many of these itineraries on foot can also be done by cycling or horseback riding and this is true for a good part of the year, from spring to autumn. Clearly any excursion you choose to make, you have to pay close attention to the various encounters with animals, widely present here, since we are in a national park.

 

Museo Civico di Collelongo. (Immagine personale)

 

Another recommended thing is a visit to the two city museums, the Civic Museum of Collelongo and the Luciano Ventrone House Museum. The Civic Museum of Collelongo has nothing to envy to larger and more established museums, given the large collection of Marsa and Roman objects found on site.

Here the material found was so rich and vast, that it is possible to make many historical-archaeological reconstructions on the way of life of the time, starting from the Marso period up to the Roman period. In the same museum there is also a rich ethnographic section which completes the local cultural picture.

 

Casa Museo Luciano Ventrone

 

The other museum in the town is the Casa Museo di Luciano Ventrone, dedicated to the pictorial works of this great artist considered by many to be one of the greatest Italian painters of the second half of the 20th century. By paying a small ticket it is possible to see the numerous pictorial works of Ventrone, but I advise anyone to book a visit given the large popular demand.

 

Fuochi della festa di S. Antonio Abate.

 (Immagine da https://www.terremarsicane.it/festa-di-santantonio-a-collelongo-questanno-no-a-feste-spostamenti-e-ospiti-in-casa/)

 

If you visit Collelongo and have the opportunity to come here in certain periods of the year, it is nice to take part in the village festivals, among which the one in honor of Sant’Antonio Abate stands out, which takes place between 16 and 17 January . For the occasion the “cottore” are reopened and the numerous visitors are welcomed from all the towns of the Marsica and above all from outside.

In the town square, large torches are lit in honor of Sant’Antonio and at dawn there are special rituals that are repeated every year.