Natural Protected Areas of Piedmont's
The Gran Sasso and Monti della Jaga National Park is one of the largest
protected areas in Europe. It stretches over:3 regions and 5 provinces in a
rapid succession of breathtaking landscapes amongt'treasures of nature and
culture, which are of inestimable value. It is an authentic g een lung of the
Central part of Italy and can boast the presence of nature which sh, uld be in
the Guinness Book of World Records: the highest peak of the Ape nines, the most
extensive plain in the peninsula, the largest artificial lake i, Europe, the
most southern glacier on the continent. It is a unique parkJhis is one of the
European areas with the most biological diversity. Its nat~re borders with the
Mediterranean and Europe and there are over 2.400 vegetation species present.
Most of these species are exclusive and can belound only in this zone.
The massif of the Gran Sasso 011 Italy dominates the surrounding landscape, the
hills, the plain, the cities in Central Italy and, in the distance, the Adriatic
and Tyrrhenian Seas. The king of the Apennines stands out vertically on the
immense pastures of Campo ImperatorF' It is like a small Tibet. On the side in
Teramo, in the east, it stands out with a majestic face which looks onto the
central Adriatic. It is the kingdom of perennial snow, rocks and wind. It is a
sight which cannot be equalled. This is the place wherr time stops to make way
for a monumental and unpolluted nature.
One of the most suggestive environments of the Park is towards north, from the
lake I of Campotosto. It is between the regions of Abruzzo, Lazio and Marche.
Here, you can admire the sweetest profiles of the Monti della Laga chain, which
is entirely covered by Beech, Silver fir, Turkey oak and Chestnut woods. Light
is reflected on the countless brooks and torrents which flow on the impervious
rocks and eventually plunge into the deep, carved valleys with resounding falls.
These falls freeze over in winter and give shape to magic and ancestral figures;.
All Apennine fauna is present: the bear, the
wolf, the chamois, the deer, the
lynx and abundant avifauna. They populate environments which will surprise you.
It is paradise for those who love trekking by horse. ft can be visited by means
of a road for horses which is over three hundred kilometres long.
The exceptional artistic patrimony in the protected area is no less
extraordinary. It goes from the fortified villages to the squares, the fountains,
the churches, the votive frescoes, the archaeological sites and from the farms
to the agricultural landscapes, the stony ground and the dry stone huts. In
these places, a millenary and indissoluble balance between the masterpieces of
culture and the precious treasures of nature will conquer you at first sight.
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