Gran Sasso and Campo Imperatore

The Gran Sasso d'Italia is the highest peak in the Apennine mountain range and rises immediately north of L'Aquila. Its presence defines the city — on clear days the rocky summit ridge is visible from the historic centre, and it gives L'Aquila an alpine character unusual for a central Italian city. A cable car (funivia) from Fonte Cerreto, about 15 kilometres from the city, climbs to the Rifugio Duca degli Abruzzi at around 2,130 metres, providing access to hiking trails and, in winter, a small ski area.

The high plateau of Campo Imperatore, reached before the final climb to the peaks, is a remarkable landscape — a broad flat valley at over 1,400 metres, used for sheep grazing in summer and described as the 'little Tibet of Italy' for its treeless, wind-scoured character. The Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, deep inside the mountain, are a major particle physics research facility operating in a unique underground setting. The area is part of the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park.

things to do sight
A story
Campo Imperatore, the high plateau below the Gran Sasso peaks, was the site of one of the most dramatic episodes of World War II. Benito Mussolini, deposed in July 1943, was imprisoned in the Hotel Campo Imperatore at 2,130 metres altitude — a location the Italian government considered escape-proof. On 12 September 1943, a German SS commando unit landed ten gliders on the plateau and extracted him without a shot being fired. The hotel still operates.