A BIG PARK FACING THE SEA
Nature at its finest. All over Abruzzo, at the seaside, in the mountains, in the hills and even beyond the protected areas, nature is always the protagonist. The sandy shores to the north contrast with the rocks and cliffs along the southern coast, while the unbroken rows of nearby hills conceal art towns full of authentic masterpieces and scattered with holiday farm centres, where it is possible to join in agricultural activities, to enjoy the genuine traditional cuisine and to practise sports. But the real heart of Abruzzo is the mountains with the highest summits of the Apennines. Visiting Abruzzo means tavelling throught history, from fortified ancient villages, testifying to an adventurous past, to hermitages set in the rocks, in unspoilt nature offering one the chance to take part in challenging sports. To be enveloped in a magic, fairy-tale atmosphere. Abruzzo offers a holiday in the midst of nature; to observe and to follow its rhythms feeling owe is and becomes part of it.
PARKS, OASES AND NATURAL RESERVATIONS
Abruzzo, Europe's Green Region, with three National Parks, a Regional Park and twenty protected areas, with 33% of its territory under environmental protection, which is the highest percentage in Europe. The National Park of Abruzzo, created over 70 years ago, is the symbol of this love and respect for nature. The large National Park of Gran Sasso-Monti della Laga is the summit of the Apennines: with suddenly changing landscapes, from harsh rocks, breathtaking plateaux, to stone-built villages. The Maiella National Park preserves unspoilt nature and civilisation, which, by merging together their own resources, have moulded the various forms of the handicraft creativeness. The Sirente-Velino Regional Park, including the third summit of the Apennines, hides the secrets of a still undiscovered nature. Furthermore, all over the region, numerous are the minor protected areas: nature reserves, such as the Lake Penne, WWF oases, such as the fir-wood of Rosello, or equipped territorial parks, such as the sulphurous springs of Lavino, to protect and to preserve the whole natural environment: mountains, lakes, waterfalls, springs, promontories.
ART TOWNS
Abruzzo is not only representative of nature, but also of art. Small art towns, preserving real masterpieces, are scattereD throughout the mountains and woods. L'Aquila, being one of the most important art towns in Italy, is rich in churches, towers and squares. In the hills close to the sea are the artistic treasures of Atri, Campli and Teramo, while Penne, Cittą Sant'Angelo and Loreto Aprutino are set among olive groves; further south are the towns of Chieti, Lanciano and Vasto Inland, at the foot of Maiella lie Guardiagrele, Popoli and Sulmona, while Celano, Tagliacozzo, Scanno and Pescocostanzo are even further inland. Besides the well-known above-mentioned little towns, not to be missed are the smaller mountain villages in the Navelli plain, in the Aterno Valley, in the Roveto Valley and in the Subequana Valley, and those set around Gran Sasso and Maiella, are historic and artistic memory of a civilisation which has esperienced, throughout the centuries, fortune and famine.
SPORTS AND NATURE
The nature in Abruzzo is wild, varied and unpredictable, as such offers the opportunity of exciting and challenging sports. Trekking, mountain-biking, horse-riding can be practised everywhere; free-climbing in the S. Spirito Valley and the Angri Valley; bungee jumping in the Orta Valley; mountaineering up the rocky walls of the highest peaks; bird watching in the reserves of Lake Penne, Serranella or Capopescara; kayaking down the Aventino, the Orta and the Vomano, and canoeing on the Tirino and the Aterno.
