South Picene (also known as Paleo-Sabellic, Mid-Adriatic or Eastern Italic) is an extinct Italic language belonging to the Sabellic subfamily. It is apparently unrelated to the North Picene language, which is not understood and therefore unclassified. South Picene texts were at first relatively inscrutable even though some words were clearly Indo-European. The discovery in 1983 that two of the apparently redundant punctuation marks were in reality simplified letters led to an incremental improvement in their understanding and a first translation in 1985. Difficulties remain. It may represent a third branch of Sabellic, along with Oscan and Umbrian (and their dialects), or the whole Sabellic linguistic area may be best regarded as a linguistic continuum. The paucity of evidence from most of the 'minor dialects' contributes to these difficulties.
Abruzzo (US: /ɑːˈbruːtsoʊ,əˈ-/, UK: /æˈbrʊtsoʊ/, Italian:[aˈbruttso]; Abruzzese Neapolitan: Abbrùzze[abˈbruttsə], Abbrìzze[abˈbrittsə], or Abbrèzze[abˈbrɛttsə]; Aquilano: Abbrùzzu), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a region of Southern Italy. It has an area of 10,831.84 square kilometres (4,182.20 sq mi) and a population of nearly 1.3 million. It is divided into four provinces: L'Aquila, Teramo, Pescara, and Chieti. Its western border, shared with Lazio, lies 80 km (50 mi) east of Rome. L'Aquila is both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila, and is the second largest city. The other provincial capitals are Pescara, which is Abruzzo's largest city and major port, Teramo, and Chieti. Other large cities and towns in Abruzzo include the industrial and high tech center Avezzano, as well as three important industrial and touristic centers, Vasto, Lanciano, and Sulmona.
Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and northwest, Molise to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Geographically, Abruzzo is divided into a mountainous area in the west, which includes the highest massifs of the Apennines, such as the Gran Sasso d'Italia and the Maiella, and a coastal area in the east, with beaches on the Adriatic Sea.
