No, i am not not on the Alps! I'm in a lost place of central Italy unknown to many. A corner of southern Europe far away in time for those arriving from the North or from overseas. Yet my small experience of accompanying the hiking trails in these mountains gave me beautiful satisfactions. It' s Abruzzo now called "Terra dei Parchi" (Land of Parks) where his three National Parks meet and touch with Regional Park and with many small Natural Parks. But the feeling that leaves this earth to whom the visit is always intense and deep.
In this area of central Italy the highest mountains of Appennino are divided into three parallel chains that run along the peninsula from north to south. The first chain, the most in the west, is formed by mountains less pronounced visible with snow in the beautiful winter days by Rome and the Tyrrhenian Sea. It culminates with the Monte Viglio an important summit that touches the 2156 meters at the border between Lazio and Abruzzo and covered with huge beech forest.
The second, a central line of mountains that run from the North at the border with Lazio straight south towards Campania. It 'a chain of rich green and thick woods with two key groups such as the ancient mountains of Velino and Sirente who are gathered under a large Regional park with the highest peak, of mount Velino, which touches almost 2500m.
		The long rib continues south through the territory of the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, the oldest park in Italy with Monte Rosa, home of chamois, deer, wolf and lynx. The third, the easternmost chain, run straight to the south through the mountains Sibillini to enter the territory of the largest park in Italy through Monti della Laga and continue south in the heart of Apennines with the massif of Gran Sasso d'Italia.
It 'the most famous mountain who has the primacy of the highest peaks of all Apennines that culminate in the 2914 meters of the Corno Grande. A series of peaks, all above 2500 meters with a costant view of the Adriatic Sea, continue south and stops abruptly like a knife cut at the Gole of Popoli. Then sudden rise again and become even more impressive with the massif of Maiella. A mountain famous for its high plains above the 2500m with a climate and vegetation purely polar. There are many signs of past glaciation that can be found on these mountains like the Glacier Calderone at Gran Sasso. The most southern glacier of Europe memory alive of ice that covered the earth 10 thousand years ago! It is in these mountains that I like to walk, explore and accompany those adventurous tourists who go south thinking of find an exotic place of green hills.