I count the church bells. Eight.

I open my eyes and my gaze is fixing the chandelier on the ceiling.

I linger like this for a few minutes. As I blink, the echo of the bells mixes with the jazzy sounds coming from somewhere downstairs. Curiously, I manage to distinguish more sounds. From the restaurant’s kitchen, from the terrace, from the street. Men's voices, slamming doors, footsteps on stone floors, rustling. I look at the clock, in less than an hour I have to connect for a video meeting. Daybreak in Bucharest is an hour later.

I stumble down, laptop under my arm. Can't take my eyes off every detail that makes these 17th century interiors - an ironic evidence of contemporaneity. It's like living in a museum - four centuries ago and still today.

I sit under the terrace’s chandelier, next to the open kitchen, from where one of the restaurant's cooks greets me with a smile.

Coffee, Abruzzese pasticceria, local organic juices. In a few seconds, the table fills up and I feel dizzy and that I won't have enough of the morning to enjoy this treat.

- Roberto non cé?

- Roberto è fuori, mo riceve una gallinella fresca.

Roberto passes and greets me, carrying in his arms a crate containing a huge and very, very ugly fish. But this will make history tonight at dinner.

I finish my online session and go on the streets. Nothing compares to walking on the super narrow, cobbled streets, which close in porticoes through which you can see the sea, or open to the Gran Sasso massif, covered in snow.

This is one of the wonders of this region - that you can go to the beach and, an hour away by car, you can ski, surveying the Adriatic sea. How cool can it be?

The afternoon brings me back to Belvedere di Montesilvano. I feel Roberto's discreet presence everywhere. He meticulously checks the preparation of lunch in the kitchen, then sits down at our table, bringing us a Cerasuolo. He prepared Mugnaia with seafood for us.

Mugnaia is a type of Abruzzo pasta, and Roberto is a master. And if you managed to create a close relationship with him - you have the privilege of not eating according to the menu. Roberto creates ad-hoc dishes - depending on what the fishermen delivered to him that morning or what he found at the market.

I close my eyes and taste. And there follows a silence about which I cannot say with certainty whether it lasts seconds or centuries.

- Hai capito "the laivel", Cristina?

And he smiles in the most delicate self-irony with which Italian humour and spirituality can be described.

Roberto won a Gambero Rosso for the way he cooks pasta. With his tousled hair and his sporty, slightly extravagant allure, Roberto is too much of a Maverick to care about fame and recognition in the Italian institutional gastronomy. He cooks out of love for the local heritage and for his guests.

This is how my soul project - Locus - took shape. With the thought that, like me, others will find joy in these interactions.

Locus is a series of exceptional culinary explorations, and the first edition is this parcourse into central Italy. Locus means both respect for localism, but also the epicenter of our interests.

Starring at the sea, in the shadow of the mountain, I invite you to meet a lot of people endemically interested in their homeland, who will make everything possible to offer exquisite culinary experiences, in a unique exploration of Abruzzo.

Nicola Fossaceca is a landmark in contemporary Italian gastronomic culture, awarded with a Michelin star for the way he managed to redesign the traditional local cuisine. Franco Briga is a fascinating character known for his dinners where you don't know exactly if the piece of meat on the plate is a painting or a dish. Fausto Zazzara insisted on producing a sparkling wine in Abruzzo according to the traditional method and succeeded in building a globally recognized brand.

On October 23, we will be happy to meet 7 couples of foodies at the Departures terminal of the Otopeni International Airport. Roberto is waiting for us. But not before having a lacustrine lunch, on the Adriatic Sea. We start in style.

Are you in?