A third of Abruzzo is protected, which makes it the greenest region in Europe by that measure and the last stronghold of the Marsican brown bear, the Apennine wolf and the Abruzzo chamois. Gran Sasso rises to 2,912 m at Corno Grande, with Campo Imperatore — 'Italy's little Tibet' — on its flank. The coast is quite different: the trabocchi, spidery wooden fishing platforms, stand off the shore south of Ortona. Between them are Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Rocca Calascio and some of the least-visited hill villages in Italy.
- Gran Sasso and Campo Imperatore
- Rocca Calascio
- Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park
- Costa dei Trabocchi
- Santo Stefano di Sessanio
- Scanno and its lake
- Best time to go
- June–September for the mountains; the ski season runs December–March. The trabocchi coast is a July–September proposition.
- Getting there
- Pescara airport; Rome is 2h by road via the A24/A25 — the fastest mountain escape from the capital anywhere in Italy.
© OpenFreeMap · OSM · terrain Mapterhorn · boundaries © EuroGeographics (Eurostat GISCO)
Headline places
What italia.it leads with in Abruzzo.
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Gran Sasso & Campo Imperatore A high plateau under the Apennines' highest peak — 'Italy's little Tibet' -
Rocca Calascio A ruined castle at 1,460 m — the highest fortress in the Apennines -
Santo Stefano di Sessanio A Medici-era stone village restored as a scattered hotel -
Abruzzo, Lazio & Molise National Park Italy's oldest southern park, and the last home of the Marsican brown bear -
Lake Scanno A heart-shaped mountain lake below one of Abruzzo's finest villages -
Costa dei Trabocchi Spidery wooden fishing platforms on stilts — several now serve dinner
Cities & bases
Where to sleep, and what each place is good for.
Abruzzo by experience
The themes this region delivers on.
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Art & culture More UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country on earth -
Food & wine Regional to the point of parochial — and all the better for it -
Coast & islands 7,900 km of coastline and around eighty inhabited islands -
Italian lakes Como, Garda, Maggiore — the Grand Tour's original destination -
Mountains & the Dolomites The Dolomites, the western Alps and the wild Apennines -
Borghi & villages The hill towns that carry I Borghi più belli d'Italia and the Orange Flag -
Nature & national parks 25 national parks, from alpine glaciers to volcanic islands -
Sport & the outdoors Dolomiti Superski, the Giro's climbs and Garda's windsurfing -
Luxury Italy Portofino, the Costa Smeralda, Capri and the great lake villas
More of The South
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Molise The region Italians joke doesn't exist — mountains, tratturi and Samnite ruins -
Campania Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and the islands of the bay -
Puglia Trulli, baroque Lecce, whitewashed towns and two seas -
Basilicata Matera's cave city, the Lucanian Dolomites and a sliver of Tyrrhenian coast -
Calabria Tropea's cliffs, three national parks and the Riace Bronzes