The Gran Sasso is located in the south of Italy, and is part of the Apennine chain. It is botanically extremely rich, competing with the best of the Alps and sharing a lot of its flora, but it also has plants in common with the Dinaric Alps and Balkan Peninsula across the Adriatic Sea, and some endemics. A compact tour of this superb area for the active.
Arrival at Rome Airport (Fiumicino, Leonardo da Vinci) from where we will depart Rome airport at 3pm and make our way up to the town of l'Aquilla where we will be staying for the next 4 nights.
This is an extremely rich area, and the roadside botany can be as good as the top of the mountains. We will slowly make our way up to the Campo Imperatore, and in the verges are masses of Polygala major in blue, white or pink-flowered Helianthemum apenninum, Globularia cordifolia, Muscari botryoides and the beautiful Edraianthus graminifolius with purple campanula-like flowers. The verges and meadows are also full of orchids such as Lady Orchid, Burnt Orchid, Fragrant Orchids and the Elderflower Orchid (Dactylorhiza sambucina) by the trillion in both its yellow and purple form. The star plant of the day is endemic Saxifraga porophylla, a species confined to just this area, sharing its rocky home with the very variable and widespread S. callosa.
The Campo Imperatore is a scenically beautiful area, with the Corno Grande (2912m) looming overhead and the area is hemmed in to the north by a ridge which Mt Prena is part of. It's on this ridge where we will find many different plants including the gorgeous Gentiana dinarica. Orchis spitzelii is here too alongside the cute edelweiss; Leontopodium nivale subsp. nivale and more diminuitive form subsp. alpinum of the north.
It is incredible how within quite short distances different plants occur depending on altitude, aspect and geology. We head back up to the Campo Imeratore, this time to tackle Mt Aquila. Here we find Pulsatilla alpina in many forms, Anemonastrum narcissiflorum dances in the summer breeze, superb mats of Androsace villosa that would win first prizes on any showbench are strewn across the path, maroon-flowered Cynoglossum magellense, Primula auricula, then high up on the ridge is Vitaliana primuliflora, Gentiana brachyphylla subsp. favratii, a true alpine buttercup; Ranunclus brevifolius, and the huge-flowered Gran Sasso form of Saxifraga oppositifolia. If we are lucky and there are late sow patches we may also find Crocus vernus.
Departure for flights from Rome airport. We will arrive no later than 12.
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6-10 June 2027
Per person: 1750 euros
Single supplement: 180 euros
Included:
Not included:
Minimum number of participants 4; maximum 12.
For more information on our tours
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