Heading east across Italy toward the Adriatic Sea, we passed fields of sunflowers and then continued driving up into the Apennine Mountains toward San Marino – the fifth smallest country in the world.

As we reached Mount Titano, our cell phones stopped working (apparently the country of San Marino was not covered by our European service), but the car navigation was able to show us that there was a hotel higher up, so we continued to drive to the top of the mountain.

We reached our hotel, checked in, and walked among the three towers (Guaita, Cesta and Montale) of San Marino.

As the sun set, the church bells began to ring, and continued ringing for a few minutes. It reminded us of sunsets in Key West (though instead of bells ringing, somebody will blow a conch shell). Night lights in the valley were pretty.

We explored more of San Marino in the morning, finding the cable car that runs visitors down and up from the valley. We also found the house of the Captains Regent. There are two captains elected every six months to act as heads of government, similar to choosing Roman consuls when San Marino was part of the Roman Republic.

We ended our last day from another piazza, watching another stunning sunset! It had been a short but pleasant stay in San Marino.

The next morning we headed down from the mountains to the east coast of Italy, stopped in for lunch by a pretty beach in Pescara, and then headed further south into more mountains in search of Sulmona.

Sulmona is a small, charming town in Abruzzo. We checked into our hotel and then wandered the plazas, seeing the statue of Ovid, the Roman poet who was born and lived in Sulmona in 43 BC.

We were amazed by the Piazza Garibaldi, as it has a medieval aqueduct running across one end, and the most magnificent view of the mountains beyond.

The piazza is used for many events and celebrations during the year, and we spent our first night at a food festival held there. The arrosticini (grilled meat on a stick) was delicious!

By the next morning the piazza had been transformed to an outdoor market, and we walked through the stalls, seeing everything from clothing to bedding to vegetables being sold. From there, we went back into town to find Rapone, a factory that makes incredible confetti – the colorful almond candies that Sulmona is known for. After seeing Kathy’s reaction to her first taste of confetti, Kenton said to the shop owner, “We’re gonna need a bigger box!”

We had a delicious lunch in the beautiful Ristorante Gino, and walked through the Church of Santa Maria di Loreto. Knowing that our friend, Joe, often visits relatives in a nearby town, Kenton contacted Joe to see if he might be around. Joe was in the USA, but he sent his cousin to meet us and to show us a building Joe was fixing up so he could have an apartment in Sulmona. The views from the apartment were gorgeous!

Sulmona completely charmed us. It was a magical stop!