The great Latin poet Publius Ovidius Naso was a citizen of Sulmona, where he was born in 43AD. There are many popular beliefs on Ovid: a magician, a damned soul, the custodian of a mythical treasure, and many believe that the ruins on Monte Morrone are from the Villa di Ovidio, built in one night, where the treasure was kept and found by Celestino V who used it to build the Abbey. The real Ovid wrote "Ars Amatoria", a kind of love manual for youths, which became a bestseller in his age, but in the society full of bigotry of the time the book was censored and Ovid ended his days in exile at Tomis, on the Black Sea, though his poetry greatly influenced all the western world, from Shakespeare to Ezra Pound.
In spite of the earthquakes that at various times in the past hit Sulmona, there are still many fine medieval monuments to be seen like the Cathedral with tombs of the 15th century and a byzanthine sculpture of the Lady with Child, the Palace of the Annunziata including the Civic Museum, the Church of Santa Maria Annunziata, with a majestic belltower, where every year in the Christmas season an International Exhibition of Artistic Creches is held, and many fine palaces like the Palazzo Tironi and Palazzo Tabassi, the church of S. Maria della Tomba, the aqueduct, the hermitage of St Peter Celestine.
Unmistakable features of this fine, picturesque town so full of culture and history are the world-known "confetti" - sugar coated almond candies. There are documents describing sweets very similar to the present-day confetti since 14 AD, though only after sugarcane was introduced in Europe the true confetti-making tradition started. White for weddings, silver for twenty-fifth anniversaries, sky-blue or pink for christenings, red for graduations, green for engagements... with centers of almonds, hazelnuts, anise seeds, cinnamon sticks, coffee beans, peanuts, pistachios, marzipan, chocolate... in party favors, flower arrangements, fruits baskets, the little sugar-coated candies are present at every important occasion in Italian life.
Sulmona is famous all over Italy also for his celebrated tradition of the "Madonna che scappa", held in Piazza Garibaldi on Easter morning, when the statue of the Madonna, covered in a black robe, from the church of San Filippo Neri is carried on shoulder by a number of young men at midday, then starts a powerful, straight run when "she" recognizes the statue of resurrected Christ. At that moment the black veil and white scarf fell down leaving the green mantle and the rose, as metaphors of winter surrendering to spring in a pastoral-religious world. Popular faith interprets the ceremony to get predictions for the harvest and the year, and being chosen to carry the statue is considered a great honor.
Another great event is the Joust, which was a regular feature in the Middle Ages until 1643, when it was finally abolished, to be restored only in the last few decades with great wealth of historical reenactment and over 500 characters in costume. Today the celebrated Giostra Cavalleresca among the seven borghi and sestrieri takes place in the last week in July, with captains in armor, horses and duels.