Sisters Calista and Lydia share a house near the sea
Image courtesy of Calista and Lydia Johnson
Wiltshire-born sisters Calista (left) and Lydia (right) Johnson own a three-bedroom house in the hills of southern Abruzzo, about twenty minutes’ drive from the sea. They take turns visiting the place with their families, and also offer holiday rentals.
What drew them to Abruzzo? “My husband Tom was the first among us to have heard of Abruzzo,” Calista explains. “This was back in 2002. He’s always been the exploratory type, always reading travel articles and looking for new places to go. So off we went to this bit of Italy I’d never heard of, and of course we loved it. Three years later, Lydia and I bought our house here. The property prices were so low it felt rude not to buy something!” She laughs. “No, we knew that a house was a good thing to put our modest savings into, and we’ve certainly been enjoying the house far more than we could have enjoyed just leaving that money in the bank.