We cross the border between Abruzzo and Lazio without even noticing it, while we are focused on not to skid down a steep, slippery slope. We are in Lazio, even though people still living in these small villages perched on the mountains say they totally feel Abruzzese. A line drawn during the fascist period, representing nothing more than that: a line. 

Poggiovalle is a small town of few steep roads, laying on a high ground. It knows very well the history of brigantry, since family Pietropaoli, of which the boss of the mob of Cartore was a member, lived here. Here, the bandits were chased, arrested and some of them killed on the mountains here around. Now it’s a quiet hamlet, where the chit-chat of people blends with the clal of the birds.