The small villages, which dot the wooded hillsides, come dramatically to life when drummers march through the usually quiet streets at the head of a procession of soldiers in Napoleonic costumes. Then, for another year, the villagers and their families can go quietly about their business again. Hundreds of small "rustici" (former agricultural buildings turned into holiday homes) make the Valley of the Sun into one huge hotel, where both the waters and the plants have healing properties.
