Confetti capital of Italy — where sugared almonds are handcrafted into bouquets, and Ovid was born between Abruzzo mountains
Sulmona is a perfectly preserved medieval hill city in the Peligna Valley of Abruzzo, surrounded on three sides by the Apennine mountains (the Majella massif to the east, the Morrone massif to the west). It is the birthplace of Ovid (43 BCE), the Roman poet of the Metamorphoses. But Sulmona's modern fame rests on a craft more tangible than poetry: confetti — sugared almonds moulded by hand into flowers, bunches of grapes, lilies, and roses using a technique unchanged since the 15th century. Every shop on the main Corso Ovidio sells confetti in the shape of impossible things (a perfect red ros…
Sulmona was the Italic city of Sulmo, capital of the Paeligni people — one of the Samnite-allied tribes that fought Rome in the Social War (90–87 BCE). Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BCE–17/18 CE), born here, was Rome's most influential poet after Virgil. The city's confetti tradition dates to the 15th century, when pharmacists sold sugar-coated almonds as a medicinal preserve. Over time it became an art form: the Pelino family (founded 1783) still operates what is possibly the oldest confetti workshop in continuous operation in the world. Sulmona's medieval centre — the aqueduct, the Annunzi…