Corno Grande and Hotel Campo Imperatore

A day to remember - equally a day to which no single photograph can do justice.


A scorching hot day on the Adriatic coast, and the crest of the high Appenines beckoning us go inland and upwards.

We drove up the coast to Giulianova, then up via Teramo to Campo Imperatore; thence down again to Capistrano, via Chieti and Pescara to our lodging. This may not look very far on a map, but most of the terrain was mountainous. Fortunately there was virtually no other traffic in the high mountains. I enquired in an almost deserted hotel where their guests had gone. The reply was simple: the summer tourist season had ended last weekend. Excellent! The ever winding roads would probably be a nightmare even in moderate traffic.


Corno Grande

To the right of the photo is Corno Grande (or "large horn"), part of the Gran Sasso (or "large rock") massif, and at 2,912 metres the highest peak of the Appenine range. On a slope of its northern cone is Europe's most southerly glacier, the Calderone glacier.

The Gran Sasso massif is host to skiers in winter, and at other times of the year mountain climbers and hikers.


Campo Imperatore and transhumance

A high plateau, known as "Italy's Tibet". Horses and cattle roam freely in this idyllic area.

On the road not far from Hotel Campo Imperatore - see below - we met a shepherd bringing his sheep down the mountain from the summer pastures. We had to stop the car to let the procession of about 700 sheep cross the road, and had the opportunity to chat to the shepherd. He may have been anything from 18 to 30 years old, and was obviously highly educated.

He told us that the family had a total flock of 1,200, and that "his" sheep would be loaded into lorries further down the mountain and driven down to the heel of Italy for the winter months. He had a dozen or so Maremma sheepdogs to help him - intelligent, beautiful creatures - and was accompanied on his walk by the mother of the other dogs.

He did not have time to talk for long. A pity! But what a delight to discover that this millennia-old practice of transhumance had not died out.


Hotel Campo Imperatore

Looking rather tatty now, this hotel - at an altitude of 2,200 metres - was constructed in the 1930s adjacent to the top station of a recently built skilift. There was no access to it by road.

The views from this site are unbeatable, with the pasture land of Campo Imperatore stretching south-eastwards, magnificent views south-westwards towards the town of L'Aquila, and of course the majestic mountain tops just behind it.

When in 1943 Mussolini fell from power and was to be taken to a secret, safe and inaccessible place of detention, this hotel was considered the ideal location for him. Il Duce attempted suicide here, but was soon rescued by the Germans in spectacular fashion: parachute troops landed in gliders on the tiny plateau, and he was then whisked away to Vienna in a tiny Fieseler Storch monoplane. The outcome of Mussolini's rescue was a propaganda triumph for the Third Reich and the establishment of the puppet Fascist state, nicknamed the "Republic of Salò".