August by the sea?

The first half of August is the peak of high season. "Quiet seaside town" is an oxymoron until the 3rd weekend of August. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of tourists you will find will be locals (= Italians) anyway.

Thanks for information. I realize it is high season, the class just happens to be in August. With that in mind, meeting local Italians by the sea would be great. So that part is good. The where is my real question. Small town with interest, good food and easy to get to from Sulmona.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Sulmona is a bit out-of-the-way for nice small town seaside towns, in the middle of the Apennines. They just recently (Dec. 2011) close an old and crappy rail line in that area. 200km from there, though, you have one of the most amazing and underrated areas of Italian coast: the Promontorio del Gargano (Vieste is my favorite). The Promontorio is a nice are to "wander", most of it is a natural park, they have some trails etc.

They just recently (Dec. 2011) close an old and crappy rail line in that area. Andre, we know from other posts of your complete dislike of public transportation, except for the most modern fast trains, but isn't "an old and crappy rail line" better than no rail line at all? For visitors and locals alike? What was so "crappy"? Slow, lots of stops? Beats walking.

@Nigel: the line in question was the Sulmona-Castel del Sangro line (which was part of the direct Pescara-Napoli link). It was an outdated line that had 4 very slow regional trains with very low patronage and used signaling technologies not d from the 1970s! Since then, it travelling from Pescara (and Sulmona) to Napoli requires a change in Roma via much longer routes. There are some buses (dangerous) that took place of the disused train line.

Now you have confused me....there must be train service to Sulmona, because I will travel there by train from Rome.
Again question is where to go after class? Would prefer the sea, but assuming with high season etc rooms might be hard to find. So....any suggestions for a few days, somewhere that I can get to quickly and spend some more time getting to know Italians. Buses would work as well, Thank you

Diana, have you thought about asking your hosts? Chances are they'll have the best info. Good luck.