Majella National Reserve
Maiella (or Majella) National Park is one of Italy’s 24 national parks and one of three in the Abruzzo region, established in 1991 and spanning the provinces of Chieti, L’Aquila, and Pescara. Its territory extends across approximately 62,838 hectares of predominantly mountainous terrain, situated astride the 42nd parallel.
The park is notably compact in its layout, organized around the great Maiella massif along with the adjacent Morrone mountains to the west, the Monti Pizzi and the Monte Porrara group to the east, and the Altipiani Maggiori d’Abruzzo to the southwest. The highest peak is Monte Amaro, at 2,793 metres above sea level, the second highest summit in the Apennines after Gran Sasso.
Geology and landscape
The Maiella massif, like the contiguous Morrone massif, is a large calcareous-dolomitic formation of Mesozoic and Cenozoic age. It is characterized by a series of broad, gently rounded summit plateaus, shaped over millennia by glacial action that was extensive during the ice ages, among which the Vallone di Femmina Morta at over 2,500 metres stands out. Its eastern and north-western slopes are cut by long and rugged valleys.
The park’s limestone is largely sedimentary, deposited approximately 100 million years ago on the floor of a tropical sea, as evidenced by numerous fossils; the mountain’s orogenesis is comparatively recent, dating to the Pliocene, around 5 million years ago. The karstic nature of the terrain has produced over 100 catalogued caves. The most notable are the Grotta del Cavallone, a karst complex 1.3 kilometres long with abundant stalactites and stalagmites located in the Vallone di Taranta, and the Grotta Sant’Angelo, which contains prehistoric cave paintings.
The River Orta, draining a wide catchment, separates the Maiella massif from the Morrone with a broad valley that narrows into a canyon in the municipal territories of Bolognano and San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore.
The park’s geology has attracted sustained international scientific attention. The Montagna della Maiella was the subject of a major geoscientific research project, TaskForceMajella, running from 1998 to 2005. On 21 April 2021, the park was declared a UNESCO Global Geopark under the name Majella Geopark.
Nature reserves
The park contains seven state nature reserves: the Riserva naturale Fara San Martino-Palombaro; Riserva naturale Feudo Ugni; Riserva naturale Lama Bianca di Sant’Eufemia a Maiella; Riserva naturale Monte Rotondo; Riserva naturale Piana Grande della Maielletta; Riserva naturale Quarto Santa Chiara; and Riserva naturale Valle dell’Orfento. Three earlier regional reserves (Maiella Orientale, Bosco di Sant’Antonio, and Valle dell’Orta) were absorbed into the national park in March 1999.
Flora
Over 2,100 plant species have been recorded within the park, representing approximately one third of the entire Italian flora; several species were first identified by botanists working within the park’s territory. These figures correspond to over 65% of Abruzzo’s flora, roughly 30% of the Italian national total, and approximately 17% of European flora. The number of endemic species reaches 142, of which five are exclusive to the park: the Soldanella del Calcare, the Fiordaliso della Maiella (both chosen as symbols of the park’s botanical gardens), the Pinguicola di Fiori, the Radicchiella della Maiella, and the Ranuncolo multidentato.
Fauna
The park hosts over 78% of the mammal species (excluding cetaceans) found in Abruzzo, and over 45% of those present at the national level. The Apennine wolf is the symbol of the park; an estimated population of 100 wolves, distributed across eleven packs in the main mountain ranges of the protected area, is monitored via GPS collars applied to 17 individuals. The wolf population density at Majella is considered one of the highest in Italy and among the highest globally.
A significant presence is the Marsican brown bear, which has been reproducing within the park for several years, making it one of only two national parks in Italy where this occurs, the other being the Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise. Other vertebrates include the chamois, red deer, wild boar, Corsican hare, European wildcat, European otter, European pine marten, red fox, European badger, and porcupine. Among birds, the Eurasian dotterel occupies a place of particular significance, alongside the golden eagle.
Historical and cultural heritage
The Maiella has been continuously inhabited since the Palaeolithic, approximately 800,000 years ago, when bands of hunter-gatherers belonging to Homo erectus exploited the mountain’s natural resources. Agriculture appeared in the area between the 6th and 5th millennia BCE.
The mountain has a long association with monasticism and hermitic life. Around twenty rock sanctuaries were built in the massif’s most inaccessible locations, including the Hermitage of San Bartolomeo in Legio at Roccamorice, accessible through a tunnel carved into the cliff face, and the Hermitage of Sant’Onofrio di Serramonacesca, constructed beneath a large overhanging boulder. The Eremo di San Giovanni above Caramanico Terme, first documented in 1275, was occupied for a period by Pietro del Morrone, who would later become Pope Celestine V.
The park also preserves numerous tholos, dry-stone huts built by farmers as shelters and storerooms, structurally comparable to the nuraghi of Sardinia. They recur along paths crossing the municipalities of Lettomanoppello, Abbateggio, Roccamorice, Caramanico Terme, and Serramonacesca, and are protected as expressions of Abruzzo’s agricultural heritage.
Access and trails
The most convenient entry points are Sulmona on the western slope, Pescocostanzo on the southern slope, Guardiagrele on the eastern slope, and Lettomanoppello on the northern slope. The park maintains approximately 500 kilometres of marked hiking trails, including an 83-kilometre Park Trail running from Popoli to the station of Palena and crossing the highest peaks. A secondary route, the Freedom Trail from Sulmona to Palena, follows paths used during the Second World War by those attempting to reach Allied lines.
Monte Amaro
Topics: Majella National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary in Italy, Nature in Italy
Source: Wikipedia
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