The sixth of January, here in Italy, we celebrate La Befana, it is a National bank holiday and a religious celebration.

Nowadays the festivity is mainly orientated to amuse children with little gifts and numerous festivals across the country. La Befana is an old ugly witch that flies on a broomstick carrying candies and sweets to well-behaved children, charcoal to naughty children.

This year La Befana has amused everyone here in Abruzzo with an incredible snowfall that will pass to the history. The snow started to fall on hilltop villages during the afternoon of January the 5^th.

The 6^th of January at around lunchtime, it started to snow even along the coast; it is very uncommon to have snow along the coast, but this winter it has been an exception. By dinnertime everything was white and all the roads were very quiet, no traffic, no noise, no people. Shops all closed and numerous bars and restaurants had to shut down earlier because of the bad snowstorm in course.

The atmosphere was breath-taking and magic.

In Italy only fully licensed real estate agents can work in the real estate business. The license can be obtained after a 12 month formation course held by the local Chamber of Commerce. At the end of the course, two exams are to be taken there and only after passing these exams, will it be possible to apply for a license.

The license will only be granted to those with no criminal record and to those with an insurance to cover all work related to problems that might occur. For example, if a client were to fall whilst visiting a property, the insurance of the fully registered realtor might well cover the damages.

It is also very important to have full trust in a registered realtor for another reason: When there is a formal written offer and the buyer sends a deposit to the real estate agency or to the owner of the house, the realtor has to register the contract at the local tax office.

Registration is required by Italian law. Without it, buyers and sellers could incur in a fine and in the worst case, the buyer could lose his/her deposit and also the property. A purchase offer or a preliminary agreement not registered at the local tax office, is not an official document. It is just a piece of paper without any legal value.

The registration makes the contract official and public; Through this document the government knows that the property is going to be sold to the buyer and therefore the owner of the house will not be able to sell the property to anyone else, even if he were to receive a better offer. This is obviously a safeguard for the buyer. Only regularly registered real estate agents can guarantee the registration of a contract.

 Roccascalegna is a small town with about 1.400 inhabitants, situated in the province of Chieti, up in the hills running along the Sangro river. It is only 35 km away from the beautiful coastline with iconic perched fishing huts, so called Trabocchi, over the Adriatic sea.

The hamlet is very picturesque, characterized by the stunning Medieval castle built on a rock with the wonderful backdrop of the awesome Majella mountains of Abruzzo. The castle was restored in the 90's and today it is open for guided tours. The small town is perfectly preserved, lying on the spur of the mountain.

There are many legends but the most famous of all, is that of the Castle of Roccascalegna, which tells of the protagonist Corvo de Corvis and the edict of the “Jus Primae Noctis”, the Latin for the “Right of the first night”.

It seems that in 1646, the phantom Baron reintroduced this Medieval practice, which stated that every newly wed bride on the estate of Roccascalegna, was to spend the first wedding night with him and not with the husband. It is not known if a newly wed bride, or the husband dressed up as the bride, stabbed the Baron in the bridal suite and that whilst dying, left his bloody hand print on the tower rock, which was later to collapse in 1940.

Although they tried to wash the blood stain from the rock, it kept reappearing and to this very day, elderly people swear that they have seen the “hand of blood” even after the rock had collapsed.

 There is a whole universe to be discovered between the Apennines slopes and the waters of the Adriatic sea: nature parks and art towns, ski slopes and beaches, medieval churches, castles and museums.

Abruzzo is a region in Central Italy. It is still an unspoilt region although in the last 10 years its popularity has increased amongst tourists and also amongst foreign investors. In fact, Abruzzo is one of the cheapest regions for investors wishing to buy a house in Italy.

Abruzzo is not far from important cities in Italy. Rome is just 250 km away. There are numerous daily coaches connecting Rome to several towns in Abruzzo. The journey takes roughly two and a half hours and a return ticket costs 30,00 euros (40 dollars). The journey is very pleasant as the coach crosses the Apennines and passengers can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the mountains and hills scattered, here and there, with hamlets and villages. Coaches are always very punctual and reliable. Naples is not far either, it is just 180 km from Abruzzo and it is reachable by coach or by train. Other important cities which are not far and can be easily reached by train are: Ancona in Le Marche, a region just 170 km away, and Bari in the Apulia region at just 220 km from Abruzzo. To Florence it is 450 km. It is very easy to visit the whole of Italy from here.

Abruzzo has an international airport situated in Pescara. The airport offers daily and weekly low cost flight connections all over Europe.

The Abruzzo region is unique for its landscape, the Adriatic coast, its high mountains, Natural Parks and its rolling hills scattered with hamlets.