ABRUZZO (Italy)

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Provinces: L'Aquila, Chieti, Pescara , Teramo

Many foreign travelers prefer the "picture postcard" beauty of the north, but to travel to Abruzzo and other southern regions is to witness an age-old Italian lifestyle that has not changed for centuries. Here you'll find ancient beechwood forests inhabited by wolves and bears, century-old pathways still used by colorfully-attired shepherds and their flocks, ominous castles which now guard nothing but desolate stretches of wilderness where the only sign of life might be a soaring royal eagle or a lone family of mountain goats.

The region is essentially hilly and mountainous sloping from the Apennines to the Adriatic Sea. It embraces the highest and largest massifs of Central Italy, with landscapes of rugged and intact beauty, peaks with many are higher than 2,000 metres. In this part of the Adriatic, the coast is usually sandy; long sandy expanses are replaced by steep and rocky coasts. There are wide amphitheaters near L'Aquila and Sulmona and is a dried hydrographic basin of the Fucino. Geological karst formations with 9 frottoes and "Doline" are also present. The National Park of Abruzzo, in the western part of the region, harbors numerous animal species, such as the Marsican Bear and the Gray Wolf.

Abruzzo National Park, one of the most important in all of Europe and nearby is the newly-designated Maiella National Park, along with several regional parks. Flora and fauna abound in these protected areas, where thick forests and flowering meadows give way to barren high plains and snow-capped granite peaks. Europe's southernmost glacier, the Calderone, extends from Corno Grande to Corno Piccolo, in the shadow of Gran Sasso, tallest peak on the Italian peninsula.