Road conditions in the mountains

Do you have experience ( recent is best) driving in snow or icy conditions? Are you flexible with your plans if the roads arent plowed or you have a white out? Early December or late December? Too far to take a taxi or bus, or need a car's freedom? (We went from Munich over the Brenner pass last December into Venice, to Milan thru heavy snow, and back to Munich in very different conditions. Sun one day, slush and snow the other way.)
Have you checked weather underground for predictions?

These might be obvious suggestions, but here are a couple ideas to start with: when you make the rental arrangements, check out the available options/ prices for a 4- wheel, or all-wheel drive vehicle ... might cost you a few bucks more, but they can sure be helpful in the snow. Sometimes you can get a car with "winter tires" as well. Also, make VERY sure of the insurance coverage provided as part of the rental. Read online, or make phone calls to the rental company or your credit card company and learn exactly what coverages you will have / need. It works a bit differently in Europe. Also, when I travel in Europe in wintertime, I try to drive during the daylight hours only, and make sure I am at my destination by late afternoon. That way I don't find myself on an unfamiliar mountain road in the dark, as the temperatures go down and the roads get slippery.

Be cautious about four wheel drive. If you do not have experience with driving four wheel drive vehicles, then Italy mountain road is not the place to learn. A standard, front wheel drive, with adequate tires is more than enough for typical winter roads. If you need more than that, then you should not be on the road. Weather at that time of year is always IFFY, but road maintenance is good so don't worry too much. And be flexible with your schedule. If weather is bad, stay put.

You're going to be pretty far to the south. I would worry more about thick fog than freezing weather. If this was the Alps, I would have more to say, but that close to the Adriatic at a latitude near Rome? Don't worry about it. EDIT: OK, now that I've read a little more, I see that the highest peak in the Apennines is nearby and that there is a glacier... Give us the names of the villages so we can look up the elevations and the approaches. That might allow us to compare to similar conditions elsewhere. And I agree with Frank- 4 wheel drive is only useful for pulling yourself out of a deep bank of snow, it does nothing to improve traction on a slippery road.

The two villages are San Pietro Avelleno and Caramanico. Thanks for the help.

All right, now that we have the names of the villages, I can make a comparison to similarly situated villages in the Alps. It looks like both villages sit on the side of the mountains and that the road approaches are of moderate grade with frequent switch backs. My experiences in the Alps have been that when road conditions become unsafe, the authorities block off access and the crews will work furiously to clear the snow. I suspect, however, that visibility will be more of an issue than icy conditions.

The highways and main routes are easy to navigate. The mountain routes can be tricky. However, the "danger threshold" above which they close roads in Europe is far lower than that of US, as everything is closer and distance shorter. This mean situations in which they'd let a road in Oregon or Montana still opened will easily warrant closure in Italy. The are you are visiting don't see snow that often. Just to emphasize what others said: plan to arrive early with daylight to your destinations, and be prepared to deal with any disruption (don't plan something like "leave PEscara 1pm after lunch and head to Caramanico Terme, arriving just after sunset). About 4WD cars: they are very uncommon on rental agencies and very expensive. Ask for tire chains, instead.

Yes, do not plan to drive at night, we did that driving over the Alps leaving Germany at dusk in winter and was one of the craziest things I have done. Plan to arrive at destination by dusk.