After Gargano, Matt and I decided to switch gears and head out to the mountains.  We miss camping, and we had heard there are some campgrounds in Abruzzo.  Abruzzo is a mountainous region in central Italy, and it was gorgeous and rugged.  The air was fresh and cool (in stark contrast to the humid, hot, stuck, smoky air in Naples), and the whole place was so very quiet.  Our hotel room gave us a nice view of the mountains.  We drove all through the National Park (which was a “real” national park this time, complete with visitor’s centers and signs warning us about bears and wolves), reveling in the expansive beauty and awesome mountains all around us.  We stayed in the town of Barrea, which we realized was a historical town without many people living there, so there was none of the typical nightlife that happens in Italian towns.  The town is mostly not driven in, so we enjoyed wandering through the tiny alleys and up and down stairs, looking at lovely tiny doors with little gardens and finding tiny museums.  We did find a campground that looks promising, although it is nothing but a field and a fire pit.  We went for a walk along Lago di Barrea (Barrea Lake) and unexpectedly ended up at a restaurant, and learned that there is always food in Italy, and that all roads lead somewhere– usually to food.  We discovered the ease of purchasing a room with “half board,” meaning they fed us breakfast and dinner, and all we had to do was show up at the right time to eat.  It worked really well for us.  We found little towns with plazas filled with men sitting on all the benches, children milling about, and people talking and eating together.  We learned that as far as getting a “quick snack” in the early evening goes, gelato is about all there is to find (the kids did not complain).  This place felt like “home” to us, and we can’t wait to go back.