Gran Sasso

The Gran Sasso rises to two thousand nine hundred and twelve metres at the Corno Grande, the highest point in the Apennines, and holds the Calderone, until recently the southernmost glacier in Europe and now reduced to a remnant that is expected to disappear within a generation. Below it lies Campo Imperatore, a high plain some twenty-seven kilometres long grazed by sheep and horses, treeless and empty enough that it has stood in for Tibet and for the American west in films. The national park around it holds Apennine wolves, chamois and a small population of Marsican brown bears.

History

The massif's highest peak, Corno Grande, rises to 2,912 metres, the highest in the Apennines, and the plateau of Campo Imperatore holds a station of the Rome Observatory. In 2005 a 2,424-metre peak once called "The Gendarme" was renamed John Paul II Peak, on what would have been the pope's 85th birthday; he had visited the Gran Sasso several times (Wikipedia, Gran Sasso d'Italia).

The landscape

• Corno Grande - the highest summit in the Apennines.
• Campo Imperatore - the high treeless plain, grazed and empty.
• The Calderone - the disappearing glacier remnant below the summit.
• Apennine wildlife - wolves, chamois and the Marsican bear.

When to go

June to September for walking, with the plain at its best in June when it flowers. Winter brings skiing and the road to Campo Imperatore closes in heavy snow. The summit route is a serious mountain day requiring experience.

What to expect

Corno Grande is a genuine mountain with exposed scrambling on the normal route and rockfall risk; it is not a walk. Weather changes fast and the plain is exposed. The 2016 and 2017 earthquakes damaged villages in the area and rebuilding continues. Bears and wolves are effectively never seen.

Nearby

L'Aquila is below to the west; Rocca Calascio is on the southern side.

Key facts