May/Jun: Best for wildflowers. One or two of the highest walks may be closed with snow.
Jul/Aug: Best for warm settled weather.
Sep/Oct: Best for autumn colour and long views.
01 Jul – 19 Sep: Caramanico Summer Festival
Events most evenings, including music, dancing, food & wine tastings, and art/craft exhibitions.
In the heart of Italy’s spectacular and little known region of Abruzzo, the beautiful Majella National Park encircles the mountain massif of Monte Amaro, which at 2793m, is the second highest peak in the Apennine range. Alpine meadows and forests of beech give way at the massif’s highest reaches to an almost desert landscape, with pockets of year-round snow. Mountain streams tumble down deep gorges and hidden valleys, where secluded rock hermitages from the Middle Ages can be found. The Park is home to deer, chamois, wild boar, wolves, otters, and a very small number of bears. The region’s agriculture is traditionally pastoral: large flocks of sheep used to arrive in June, having travelled in search of summer pastures from the lowlands of Puglia, where they would return in October. The hillsides are still grazed by local flocks, and you will find ancient beehive-shaped stone huts (tholos) still sheltering shepherds today.
