Gran Sasso & Maiella Mountains

Lago Campotosto could be the perfect place to spread your picnic blanket, shade, incredible scenery & its own unique ‘belle of the picnic blanket’ salami

As frustrating as the day was, that 1st little hike was enough to wet our appetite for further exploration of Abruzzo on foot & arrange a hiking holiday

Getting lost Majella cloudwatching from Roccascalegna; those puffy, fluffy, wispy racy bringers of rain held high in the sky with temperatures of 32 C

The marbled pattern of snowpacks from the 2150 masl at the Campo Imperatore Observatory on May’s Middle Sunday that sits just behind the Corno Grande peak

Cerqueto reveals its unexpectedly abundant technicolour orchid trail, with sublime views of Abruzzo’s “Sleeping Giant” the Corno Piccolo

The beginning of May behoves tiptoeing thanks to the carpet of crocus flowing across what appears to be a high valley garden up at Vado di Corno

It’s funny the facts you can find out walking in Abruzzo, in Salinello Gorge the stalks from the giant fennel were the whipping stick of choice for Romans

Roccamorice’s road to Eremo di Santo Spirito hermitage winds round the mountains & is often snowed over in winter, but it makes a stunning mountainside walk

Decontra has some of the of the most incredible Maiella mountain vistas from a Pescara mountain village, so if you like walking in Abruzzo, it’s time to visit

Stunning vistas, gastronomic delights and gently rambling walks is something that Frattoli does superbly well tucked up high opposite Abruzzo’s Prato Selva

The Abruzzo town of Pietracamela en route to ever-popular resort Prati di Tivo, is renowned for its summer hikes, particularly good is one down to

Sulla, not just a memorable Roman General that Plutarch wrote about & Mozart composed operas around, but the name of an even greater sweetly-fragranced crimson flower

Walking the heart of Abruzzo has to involve the Corno Grande Mountain at some point; that effortlessly wears its craggy 2-million-year lifetime without vanity

A must for visitors to Abruzzo is Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso National Park, partly famous as Abruzzo’s largest & highest Alpine meadow

Cesacastina is a small village situated in Teramo’s Gran Sasso & Monti della Laga National Park tucked underthe peak of C.le d. Pietra that rises 1683 masl

One recommended Abruzzo gentle springtime valley walk, tracing the footsteps of Lucrezia Borgia no less, is around the nature reserve of Fiume Fiumetto

Walking in Europe’s biggest parklands; a carpeted woodland of Abruzzo in winter is a scramble of textures & colours

From April-June hit the ski-slopes of Prati di Tivo, “senza neve”, and find wonderful walks amongst verdant bejewelled pastures & cascading waterfalls

Overlooking our cottage in Bascianella and part of the Gran Sasso Mountain range is Italy’s highest Apennine mountain, ‘The Corno Grande’ (nicknamed Italy’s Rocky Heart)