Introduction

The journal "In Cammino - Along the Way - Abruzzo Landscapes and Peoples", developed and edited by Prof. Vincenzo Battista using his own articles and photos, aims at leading us on a journey through time and places in the search of special sites, symbols, rites of an Abruzzo that is hidden, little known to the Internet community. Vincenzo Battista's "journey", as a matter of fact, which will take us to a great variety of places in the Abruzzo Region, is also a "journey in memories", to the rediscovery of our belonging to a community, of the roots and cultural identity so typical of this land between the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea.

Every month "in cammino..." will offer an unusual, fascinating reading unfolding the identity of the local communities: the cults, the ancient customs, the usage, the culture of the objects, folk traditions, crafts and more. A two-fold reading through images and text based on the autobiographical diary of this "journey". Following Vincenzo Battista, this diary will unfold before our eyes the ethnographic landscape as well as the unspoiled, surprising environment of the social communities that made up the identity of the Abruzzo Region.

Our first appointment, in the month of December 2001, is with some of the most typical folk festivals, moments of collective rites, models of folk representations that take form in many places in Abruzzo. Our next appointment will center on the "ice workers": men working on the Sirente Mountain to extract ice blocks from the perennial snow to sell or exchange them, supporting in this way their families in the villages at the foot of the "sacred mountain".

Abruzzo 2000, December 2001