Sleepy Hilltop Towns: Italy’s Biggest Charm

Sleepy Hilltop Towns: Italy’s Biggest Charm

If you have been to Italy, I think that you will probably agree that the single best thing (besides the food of course) about visiting is happening upon little hilltop towns.

They are all charming, one after the other, and there is no end to them. They are in every region, around every corner and they are always calling out for us to visit them when we see the light on the pink rooftops, the stone church bell tower and the charm of its placement from the road below.

abruzzostreetweb96dpi

A Small Street in Pereto
Oil on Linen
20 x 16″
SOLD

So you can imagine my excitement to visit these places as a painter- the possibilities seem endless. Which view to paint? Where will the sun be traveling? What one painting will capture a sense of this unique place?

All important questions.

When I had the opportunity to visit the sleepy but still very inhabited Abruzzese town of Pereto, these were the questions I was asking myself knowing I only had 1 shot to paint a painting.

I chose this scene for a few reasons, but mostly because I loved how it showed the houses with the view to the mountains in the background. The glowing sky and the light beginning to come through on that little house with the door, looking up the street with no one around.

These of course are just moments in a larger life, but moments I love to capture. I love the chance to get out of Rome on occasion and to explore these smaller towns with brush and canvas.