National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio & Molise

The Abruzzo side of the park is only a 2-hour drive from Roseto degli Abruzzi.

This 100-year-old national park is famous for its preservation of endangered species such as the wolf and the Marsican bear.The latter, endemic only to this region, is the symbol of the park itself.

The territory consists mainly of a set of mountain ranges ranging in altitude from 900 to 2,200 meters above sea level. The Camosciara chain, together with the adjoining Val di Rose and Valle Lannanghera, represent the places of the "cult" of the protected nature, where one can observe with wonder a few meters away and in every season, stupendous specimens of the Abruzzo Chamois, which thanks to the work of the Park Authority, has today reached a substantial population.

Along the slopes and valleys of the Park one can admire the imprints of the glaciations that have left in our days glacial cirques, moraines and erratic boulders on the Meta, Marsicano and Greco Mountains. Even more exciting appear the enormous erosive phenomena produced by rainwater and rivers that, cracking the fragile rock, forge deep gorges, such as that of the Foce di Barrea .

The flora is lush, but undoubtedly the park's most famous flower is the Venus's slipper or Madonna's slipper (Cypripedium calceolus), a yellow and black orchid located in the heart of the integral reserve and a relict of distant ages.

Within the park are several villages and hamlets of great beauty, the most famous being undoubtedly Pescasseroli at 1167 meters above sea level. Pescasseroli is a village in which the symbiosis of nature and architecture is evident: the town is in perfect harmony with the natural wonders that surround it.

The urban nucleus, has developed around the ancient abbey and is characterized by traditional stone and mortar masonry buildings, adorned by the peculiar windows with local freestone boarding, called "pietra gentile" after the mountain of the same name.