Advice on moving to Pescara, Italy?

Question

Hi all, I am moving to Pescara in September to attend university. I am having difficulties finding information on the city. Can anybody help me out with useful links or has anybody been/lived there to give me advice on what to expect? Are the people friendly, how easy it will be to find housing, what there is to do there, things like that. Thank you in advance!

Oh and if it helps I speak Italian fairly well, I have been studying it for quite a long time

Answer 1

Are you attending the main University or the branch?

I live near the branch where my boyfriend is a phd student there, and they have housing listings right outside, and all around the campus so housing wouldn't be too difficult.  If you speak italian great but I must warn you alot of people speak in dialect, which is awful when your trying to learn/understand what they are saying.  There's alot to do if your in Pescara, the beach is nearby and there's an open market every monday.  During the weekends at night its very busy in the center of town, things don't start to get busy until 11 or so.

Answer 2

We live about 30 km from Pescara as the crow flies (about twice that as the mountain roads wind). I love living in Abruzzo, but Pescara is not what I'd consider a fantastically atmospheric place. It was pretty much destroyed during WWII and then when it was rebuilt, things went a bit crazy with ugly, concrete buildings sprouting up everywhere.

As the other responder has said, it does have a beach. And the areas inland from the city are very attractive in a wild sort of way. This part of Italy is totally unlike the stereotypical countryside that most people think of when Italy is mentioned. That's Tuscany, Abruzzo is a lot wilder. For example, one of the major annoyances during the winter on our farm is how herds of wild board come along and dig holes all over the place looking for food. There are also (a few) bears and wolves in Abruzzo, believe it or not.

There are also a number of ski resorts in the area, which is not the sort of thing many people immediately associate with central Italy.

The first link below takes you to a brief tourist info type blurb about Pescara. If you're fluent in Italian, you also might find the Il Centro site interesting and useful.

You might also consider checking out the Italy Magazine Forum. Many of the members live in Italy full time, some have holiday homes here and others holiday here, so there's lots of practical, local information available. There's also a specific sub-forum which deals specifically with Abruzzo.

I hope you'll enjoy your time in Pescara. One assumption you can safely make is that the locals will be friendly. Do make an effort to get out of the city and see at least the rest of the province while you're here.