A surprising town – a town of women. The streets are mostly gradients. Tall houses with decorated lintels bend over them, archways and balconies span mysterious alleyways. The women are tall and dignified. On Sundays they wear a sombre costume of blue and green and, under turbans, their hair is braided and woven with tresses of coloured wool. Long ago Scanno grew rich on wool. The men tended distant flocks, the women stayed at home knitting. They developed a matriarchy and took Saracen slaves for their servants, who taught them Oriental embroidery. South-west, under the Terratta ridge, are ski slopes and a chair-lift.