Abruzzo is a mountainous region northeast of Rome, squeezed between the Apennines and the Adriatic. Two-thirds of it is above 500 metres — this is the highest, wildest part of central Italy, and the reason much of it is still in national parks.
The Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park is the best known, established in 1923 and one of the last strongholds of the Marsican brown bear, the Apennine wolf, and the Abruzzo chamois. Pescasseroli is the administrative centre and the main base for walkers. The Gran Sasso and Majella massifs to the north hold the highest peaks in the Apennines and the southernmost glacier in Europe (the Calderone, now nearly gone).
L'Aquila, the regional capital, sits on a plateau ringed by mountains. It was devastated by the 2009 earthquake and has spent the years since in slow, partial reconstruction — worth a visit both for the medieval core that survives and as a reminder of what Italy's tectonic reality looks like. Sulmona further south is smaller and prettier, famous for confetti (sugared almonds).
The coast is long and crowded with low-rise beach resorts; honest advice is that it is not Abruzzo's strength. Pescara has a marina and some nightlife, but most travellers are better off heading inland. The south coast near Vasto is more scenic, with trabocchi — old wooden fishing platforms built out over the water — still in use.
Winter tourism is a serious business here, with ski resorts at Roccaraso, Campo Imperatore (on the Gran Sasso), and around Ovindoli, largely serving Romans on weekend trips.
