SEPTEMBER 2000 – A house has been built close to the edge of bizarre rock erosions that can be found near Atri (TE) in Italy. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
During our road trip through Italy in the summer of 2000, we stayed for a night in Atri (TE). It had been a long (and very nice) drive from Vieste, but now it was getting late again and we needed an accommodation for the night. Badly. We wanted to avoid the tourist hotels of the coast. Also, after a long time at the Adriatic Sea we needed something different, and a genuine Italian town on the countryside. Atri looked like the perfect choice to us.
Now, back in 2000 Atri was pretty much a blank spot on the tourist map (and we believe it to be still that way today.) It was rather old-fashioned, which might be because there were more old people than young, who prefer to work at the coastal cities or in the big Italian cities. Therefore, there were virtually no hotels in Atri. Yet we found the Hotel San Francesco in the Corsa Adriano, a charming (old-fashioned) hotel, which made our stay in town quite pleasant. We did not expect any luxury, but the hotel was conveniently located in the town center, and it was affordable.
As you can imagine, we were very happy that they had a room for us. Remember, this was before the Internet became ubiquitous and long before you could access booking engines and interactive maps on your smartphones. Once the tourist information was closed, you needed friendly people on the street, a phone booth with a phone book, or a few promotional signs for hotels.
Anyway, when we departed from Atri the next morning we used the S.S. 553 and encountered this fantastic view of beautiful and bizarre rock erosions on the opposite side. As if that was not enough, I spotted a single house that stood very close to the edge of the erosions. The light of the morning sun was beautifully illuminating the erosions, and I just had to stop to take this photo.
25 years later I re-discovered the location on Google Streetview. Today, the house is the B&B Agriturismo Isola dei Calanchi, and it seems to have been upgraded and looks even better than in September 2000. (If only we had the mobile Internet back then!)
The Hotel San Francesco seems to have been closed. At least there is no hotel with that name in Atri anymore.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | 14-SEP-2000 |
| Location | near Atri, Italy |
| Camera | Canon AE-1 Program |
| Image Source | Fuji Slide Film |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 6567 x 4278 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
Zanzig.com Photo Hub 
2 Comments