Via dei Parchi Traverse

The central Apennines between Rome and Naples contain three national parks that are less visited than their northern counterparts but collectively cover some of the most biologically significant and scenically dramatic terrain in Italy. The Via dei Parchi traverse links them on a route that stays almost entirely in the mountain interior, avoiding the coastal zones and the well-known tourist circuits.

The Gran Sasso is the starting point. The Corno Grande (2912m) is the highest point of the Apennines and the highest mountain on the Italian peninsula south of the Alps. The trail below the summit on the approach from Assergi uses the high-altitude paths that skirt the Gran Sasso's southern escarpment — a sheer limestone wall rising 1000m above the Abruzzo plateau that is one of the most dramatic rock faces in Italy.

The Majella massif is the second park. The Majella is a broad, rounded mountain — the highest point, Monte Amaro at 2793m, is less dramatic than the Gran Sasso but the plateau walking above the tree line is exposed and wild. The hermit caves cut into the Majella's cliff faces represent a tradition of ascetic monasticism that used the inaccessibility of the mountains as spiritual infrastructure — they are worth the detour from the main trail.

The Cilento national park in the south is completely different from the northern sections. Lower, more Mediterranean, warmer in summer. The route descends through woodland and agricultural landscape to the UNESCO-recognised cultural landscape of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano.

Services are adequate throughout, with the towns of L'Aquila, Sulmona, Chieti, and Vallo della Lucania providing full resupply. The route stays within a day's walk of a town for almost its entire length.

Most runners take 11-14 days.