ABRUZZI - LAND

In less than 11.000 square kilometres divided into four provincial districts of L'Aquila, Chieti, Pescara and Teramo, there is a land ranking among the most beautiful in Italy: hillsides, mountains, beaches and boasting three national parks where in an unpolluted environment one can come across chamois, foxes, wolves, wild boars, and the little Marsican bear often used as the symbol of the Region. But Abruzzi does not offer only landscape and wildlife. The land offers an overwhelming choice of colours, flavours, gastronomical delights and old time deliciousness.

Abruzzo is a compendium of Mediterranean landscape. Linking north and south, the Balkans and Rome, It is a region where the dialectic between the various silhouettes of its mountains on the one hand and the sea on the other is constant. In winter the sea reciprocates, sending the cold, wet currents of air that arrive from the east and transform into heavy, long-lasting snowfalls on the slopes of the Gran Sasso, the Majella Massif and of the Sirente-Velino mountain range. In winter, to ski and take pleasure in the varying coastline at the same time is as wonderful as the refreshing experience that can be had in summer by turning one's eyes west and leaving behind, even if only through what one sees in that momentary gaze, the noisy strand, that stretches for 120 kilimeters. Abruzzo is proud of its parks, of its flora and fauna and of the protected areas that extend over a third of the region's territory. As Europe's greenest area it recognises in this correct relationship it has established with nature a fundamenta opportunity for development. The pay-off from this healtly approach to the environment is seen in the region's tradition of food. With the rediscovery of the Mediterranean diet, Abruzzo cuisine as leapt right to the fore with its strong flavours and tastes emanating from the fruits of its soil and sea. All that remains is to savour Abruzzo, a region in which all seasons are suited for adventurous encounters.

Great snow-blanched valleys, plateaux which snow turns into majestic high-altitude deserts, gorgeous beech woods intricately draped in patterns of hoar-frost and snow, the footprints of animals across the terrain; and historic old hamlets also that the snow-clad landscape makes yet more impressive. More than any other region Abruzzo is the region of greenness, but it fully maintains its appeal to naturalists and excursionists in its winter attire also. Cross country skiing is an adventurous activity accessible to one and all. In the winter excursionist's imagination, under a thick blanket of white even the beech wood closest to places of habitation turns into a small replica of Scandinavia or of Canada. The tracks of fox or squirrel in the snow conjure up the presence too of bear, chamois and wolf.