Trabocchi Coast

A trabocco is a wooden platform built out from the rocks on long piles, with arms called antenne carrying a large square net that is lowered and raised by winch, developed on this coast to fish without going out in a boat. They are built and repaired with pine and oak, traditionally jointed rather than nailed so the structure flexes in storms. Gabriele D'Annunzio described them as looking like the skeleton of a great creature. Many have been converted into restaurants serving fish at tables on the platform. The disused coastal railway between Ortona and Vasto has been converted into a cycle path running past them.

What you actually see

• The trabocchi - stilted timber platforms with winch-lowered nets.
• The jointed construction - frames built to flex rather than resist storms.
• The platform restaurants - dining at tables over the water.
• The rail-trail - a cycle path along the old coastal railway.

When to go

May to September; restaurants on the platforms are seasonal and must be booked, often weeks ahead. Storms close them. The cycle path is open year-round.

Honest expectations

Platform restaurants are small, book out and cancel in bad weather. Menus are fixed in many. Access to some trabocchi is private.

Nearby

The Majella park lies inland; Vasto is south.