This hike takes us to the small chapel the hermit Pietro da Morrone lived in during the 13th century! This chapel is still in use today and is wedged into the mountain side! Pietro da Morrone became the Pope in 1250 and given the name Papa Celestino V. The 25th of August every year the whole region celebrates this with a hike to the chapel.
Here we being at the Majella visitors centre in Caramanico and trek out of the village to the valley which has been created by the river Orfento. We walk on on the hillsides of lush beech forests and get some wonderful views of the ravine and the mountains on the other side.
In Abruzzo there are many possiblities to hike along well marked paths. Abruzzo is recognised as ‘Italy’s lung’ with its large proportion of green areas, maybe it is not surprising that Abruzzo has three large national parks within its region. One of them is Majella National Park and here you can find a total of 500km marked paths for hikes at varied difficulty and different types of terrain. Caramanico is centrally located in Majella National Park and has a visitors centre where you can get help and advice on hikes, buy maps and other useful information.
• Åke Larsson · SKÖVDE ·