Barrea is a medieval village perched on a rocky spur above the eastern end of Lake Barrea, its tight lanes and stone houses compressed into the kind of vertical hilltown that the landscape of central Italy seems to demand. The ruins of a Norman castle crown the top of the village; below it, a viewpoint terrace looks out over the whole lake and the forested ridges that hem it in on both sides.
The village was here long before the lake — the reservoir was created in 1951 by damming the Sangro river, and the old watermill quarter at the foot of the village was submerged. What remains is genuinely attractive: a centro storico with few tourists and a local rhythm that has not entirely yielded to the park's summer economy.
From Barrea the road climbs south out of the park toward Alfedena and the Molise border, or you can loop back along the northern lake shore to Villetta Barrea and Civitella Alfedena. The lake is best seen from this side, with the low light of morning or late afternoon turning the water a deep blue-green against the beech-covered slopes.