ABRUZZO NATIONAL PARK

It is the oldest and most famous park in Italy. Abruzzo National Park (now called Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise National Park) is born on September 9th 1922, from an idea of the Abruzzo Member of Parliament Erminio Sipari and it has been founded with a royal law n. 25 on January 11th 1923. Now, the Park is 50.000 hectares big and 60.000 hectares of external protection.

The Park includes the territory of three different regions ( Abruzzo-Lazio-Molise) and occupies territories of several mountain villages. The oldest of the Park in Italian Apennine had an important rule in preservation of some of the most interesting species of Italian big fauna: Marsican brown bear, Abruzzo Chamois and Apennine wolf. Most of the territory is covered by beech wood, formed by old trees too, ideal habitat of many birds, such as Lilford woodpecker . The reintroduction of Red deer and Roe deer, together to the return of the Wild boar, permitted to establish the original and natural balance. Near the top of the mountains, at 1800 meters in height, the beech wood leaves space to the highlands, where is possible to observe Pino Mugo and many other glacial or endemic species of plants. The success of Abruzzo Lazio and Molise National Park is due to the fact that it was able to conjugate the protection of the nature with the social and economic development of people of the villages included in the territory of the Park. Several museums, areas for animal’s observation, the net of the paths and many other buildings to enjoy the Park permitted the revaluation of small medieval villages such as Pescasseroli, Opi, Villetta Barrea, Civitella Alfedena and Barrea.

The landscape designed by the mountains is various and interesting, with typical rounded top of the Apennine and steep crests, similar to the Alps. The Park is crossed by Sangro river, in which many others torrents flow; many others rivers (Giovenco, Melfa and Volturno) flow on the sides of the Parks. Because of the Karst phenomena., the water flow under the ground and form springs in the valleys, sometimes outside the territory of the Park. Inside the Park there are only two lakes: Barrea artificial lake and Lago Vivo. This lake is placed at 1600 meters in height and it is feed by the melting of snow. The territory of the Park has been modelled by glacial and karst phenomena, now testified by the particular conformation of the high part of the mountains. Most of the rocks are limestone, except in Camosciara that is composed by dolomite rock, a kind of rock that is impermeable and permit to the water to flow and fall down forming spectacular waterfalls.