After the ship, the opposite of the ship. Wolves and bears in the most forested national parks on the continent, hermitages cut into cliffs, transhumance routes still walked, and saffron and confetti from Sulmona and Navelli.
Collection at the Naples terminal and transfer east into Abruzzo, around three hours, with lunch en route. Arrival at Sulmona in the afternoon, in a valley ringed by mountains on every side. Dinner in the town, with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Morning walk up to the hermitages cut into the Maiella rock face, where hermits lived from the Middle Ages onwards, at a grade that any reasonably fit group can manage. Lunch at a mountain refuge. Afternoon at Sulmona, with a confetti workshop that has been running since the nineteenth century.
A full day in the national park with a wildlife biologist and a forester, on the tracks used to monitor wolves and bears, with the management of a landscape that looks wild but is not left alone explained on the ground. Packed lunch.
Morning across the Campo Imperatore plateau, the high pasture crossed by transhumance routes still walked each year, then down to Navelli and its saffron, with the growers explaining a harvest done entirely by hand. Farewell dinner at a farmhouse.
Transfer to Rome Fiumicino or Naples for onward flights, around two and a half hours, with a stop at L’Aquila for groups with later departures.
Splendido private tours
