Between L'Aquila and the Teramo side of the Gran Sasso runs a loop of about 150 kilometres crossing the highest mountain in the Apennines: fortified villages built on sheep farming and wool, the saffron plain, a castle at 1,460 metres and Campo Imperatore, the plateau that Fosco Maraini named "Little Tibet". Seven stops in the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, where the transhumance culture left towers, stone shepherd huts and products found only here: the Santo Stefano di Sessanio lentil, the canestrato di Castel del Monte cheese, the Zafferano dell'Aquila DOP saffron.
The regional capital of Abruzzo, at 714 metres above sea level, is the natural starting point: founded in the thirteenth century by the union of dozens of castles from the surrounding countryside, L'Aquila preserves one of the richest historic centres in the Apennines, largely restored by the reconstruction that followed the 2009 earthquake. The basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, with its chequered white-and-pink facade, holds the remains of Pope Celestine V and every August opens its Holy Door for the Perdonanza, the Aquilan jubilee recognised by UNESCO. Also worth seeing are the Fontana delle 99 cannelle, a fountain with one spout for each founding castle, and the sixteenth-century Spanish Fort.
Some thirty kilometres to the south-east, along the route of the Regio Tratturo drovers' road, the Navelli plain is the field of Zafferano dell'Aquila DOP saffron, grown here for about seven centuries. The flowers are picked by hand at dawn, for a few weeks between October and November, when the plain turns purple; it takes around two hundred thousand flowers to produce one kilo of spice. The village rises in a cone towards the baronial Palazzo Santucci, among stone houses, arches and dovecotes. The same land produces the Navelli chickpeas, white and red, a staple of the local cuisine together with saffron.
At 1,250 metres, Santo Stefano di Sessanio is the emblematic village of the Barony of Carapelle: in the sixteenth century it passed to the Medici, who made it a hub of the carfagna wool trade with Florence — the Medici coat of arms is still on the entrance gate. The village is a compact weave of house-workshops, loggias and covered limestone alleys, restored through one of Italy's first "albergo diffuso" scattered hotels. The Medici Tower, which collapsed in the 2009 earthquake, was rebuilt and reopened in 2021. These high-altitude terraces grow the Santo Stefano di Sessanio lentil, small and dark, a Slow Food Presidium.
A few kilometres separate Santo Stefano from the most photographed fortress in Abruzzo: Rocca Calascio, at 1,460 metres, is among the highest fortifications in the Apennines. The central keep, medieval in origin, was enclosed in the fifteenth century by walls and four round towers; from here the garrison controlled the whole Tirino valley and the transhumance drovers' roads. The castle, never converted into a residence, has survived intact in its military form and served as a set for films such as Ladyhawke and The Name of the Rose. The climb is on foot from the half-abandoned village of Calascio, about half an hour on a trail; just below the fortress stands the octagonal church of Santa Maria della Pietà.
On the opposite side of the valley, Castel del Monte is the shepherds' village: for centuries its flocks wintered in the Tavoliere plain of Puglia and climbed back up in June, and the village keeps the stepped layout of its medieval core, with covered passageways — the "sporti" — and houses built one against the other. Sheep farming gave rise to the canestrato di Castel del Monte, a pecorino aged in rush baskets, a Slow Food Presidium, still made in the stone shepherd huts of Campo Imperatore. The historic centre, among the best preserved in the park, has been used as a set by international cinema.
From Castel del Monte the road climbs above 1,800 metres and enters Campo Imperatore: 27 kilometres of plateau, the largest in the Apennines, shaped by glaciers and grazed by free-ranging herds and flocks from June to September. The comparison with the high plains of Asia — "Little Tibet" — comes from Fosco Maraini. On the western rim, at 2,130 metres, stand the astronomical observatory, the alpine botanical garden and the hotel where Mussolini was freed in September 1943; above it all rises the Corno Grande, which at 2,912 metres is the highest peak in the Apennines and holds the Calderone, the southernmost glacier in Europe. Along the road, shepherd huts sell arrosticini (sheep skewers) grilled over embers.
Past the Vado di Sole pass, the descent on the Teramo side leads to Castelli, at the foot of the north face of Monte Camicia. Since the sixteenth century the village has lived on maiolica: Castelli ceramics, painted in shades of turquoise, yellow and copper green, furnished the courts of Europe and are still made today in the workshops of the centre. The rural church of San Donato preserves a seventeenth-century ceiling of maiolica tiles that Carlo Levi called "the Sistine Chapel of maiolica"; the Ceramics Museum and the art school, heir to the Grue family workshop tradition, complete the visit. This closes the loop: from the economy of wool to that of clay, always in the shadow of the Gran Sasso.
The Campo Imperatore road is fully open only from late spring to early autumn: in winter snow closes the high-altitude sections. June and July offer the wildflowers and full pastures; September the best light; late October combines autumn foliage with the saffron harvest in the Navelli plain. A car is essential: the stops are linked by scenic, lightly trafficked mountain roads with few petrol stations — start with a full tank. The climb to Rocca Calascio is on foot only, about half an hour; at altitude temperatures drop even in summer, so bring a jacket.
Rural hospitality is the key to this trip: livestock and cereal farms dot the Barony of Carapelle, the Navelli plain and the Tirino valley, and every stop is less than half an hour away. The table brings the itinerary's products together: Santo Stefano lentils, Navelli chickpeas and saffron, canestrato cheese, ricotta and arrosticini, wood-fired bread. Many farms are also teaching farms or direct-sale points, and in summer they organise hikes and horseback rides to the shepherd huts of Campo Imperatore. Sleeping here means waking up among the pastures, with the profile of the Corno Grande on the horizon.
