The Penne bus station is 5 minutes walk from the house, by the multi-storey car-park just outside the walls. There are good and frequent service; but there are also 3 different bus companies involved, and they are not always good at keeing their timetables up-to-date.
In the summer coaches run twice daily to Rome and back. The coaches leave very early in the morning and in the early afternoon, arriving at Rome's Tiburtina bus and train station around 4 hours later. There are a matching pair of coaches returning from Tiburtina station, leaving in the late morning and late evening. Exact times can be found on the Prontobus web site. Taking the earliest coach there and the latest one back gives a full 12 hours in Rome. The coaches stop in Chieti on the way, and are the easiest way to reach this historic Abruzzo town from Penne.
Tickets can be bought on the coach or from the tobacconists on the right just before Piazza di Luca in Penne. In 2011 the trip to Rome is 15 euros each way.
The GTM (recognizable by its symbol of a big letter G surrounded by stars) runs the buses in the district of Pescara. This includes the bus from Pescara to Penne, as well as the local buses round the town of Penne itself. Tickets for these buses can be bought from the tobacconists on the right just before Piazza di Luca in Penne. Bus timetables can be found online but are also published as booklets available from the same tobacconist. There are two routes between Pescara and Penne; the main one stops in Loreto Aprutino, Penne's neighbouring town, which drops picturesquely down the side of a hill with its castle (now a hotel) at the top.
The ARPA bus company runs most of the bus routes in the rest of Abruzzo, including Penne. They may sometimes have a published timetable, or there is an online routefinder. The online routefinder does not always seem to work very well, and always routes you through Pescara. However, the cafe in the San Francesco gate keeps a copy of a timetable pinned to the wall, and we have made a copy of this timetable. The official Penne agent for ARPA named on the ARPA website is the “Appignani Viaggi” travel agent in Via Castiglione, just off the square behind the San Francesco gate; however, they say they only deal with long-distance routes.