What is Fara San Martino known for?

De Cecco founded here in 1886, Delverde and Cocco still in operation; the town is called the world capital of dry pasta. Two-meter slot gorge cut into the Majella wall, with the Verde river running out at its base and the abbey ruins inside. The eastern gateway into Majella park, with trails climbing 2,300 meters from the gorge to Monte Amaro's summit.

Where is Fara San Martino?

Fara San Martino is a comune in the province of Chieti, Abruzzo region of Italy, about 74 kilometers from Pescara.

Abruzzo · Chieti

Fara San Martino

The pasta capital of Italy, where De Cecco was founded in 1886 and the Verde river runs out of a two-meter slot in the Majella wall.

74 km / 46 mi

Nearest hub (Pescara)

1,289

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Fara San Martino sitson the eastern slopes of the Majella, where the Verde river emerges from a slot in the rock barely two meters wide at its narrowest. The town name is Lombard: Fara meant a settled clan, and the San Martino was added for the ninth-century Benedictine abbey of San Martino in Valle, walled into the gorge above the village and flood-buried in 1818, then dug out again in 2009. The river water made the town. De Cecco was founded here in 1886, Delverde in 1967, and Cocco still ships from the same valley, three pasta makers that together send dry pasta to every continent. Walking from the borgo into the Gole takes ten minutes and drops the temperature by five degrees. The Valley of the Holy Spirit rises behind the gorge to Monte Amaro, the second-highest peak in the central Apennines.

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Gallery

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Known for

Gole di San Martino
Narrow rock gorge two meters wide at the entrance, opening into the Valle Santo Spirito and the Majella massif behind the town.
Monastero di San Martino in Valle
Ninth-century Benedictine abbey ruins inside the gorge, buried by a 1818 flood and excavated again from 2009 onward.
Valle Santo Spirito
Long Apennine valley rising from the gorge toward Monte Amaro at 2,793 meters, a 2,300-meter drop along its length.
Centro storico
Small medieval borgo of stone houses on the slope, with the Chiesa di San Remigio as the parish church and pasta mills along the river.
Sorgenti del Verde
Karst springs at the foot of the gorge, the cold water source that pasta makers De Cecco, Delverde and Cocco have used since 1886.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through September is when the gorge and the high valley above it are walkable. The Verde water keeps the air five degrees cooler than the plain even in July, so summer hikes are bearable. October is gold and quiet, with the first dry-pasta drying racks visible in mill courtyards. November through March is hard: snow blocks the upper Valle Santo Spirito, many trails close, and the abbey ruins inside the gorge are dangerous to reach. The April thaw runs the river loud enough to hear from the borgo. The pasta makers run year-round, and tours of the De Cecco mill can be booked even in winter.