The National Park of Abruzzo.
A short survey of the oldest Park in Italy its organization, fauna, flora and its natural environment.
Recommended itinerary description; suggestions and useful phone numbers for a visit to the Park.
The National Park of Abruzzo was established by the Royal decree n. 257 of January 2, 1923. Later, on July 12 of the same year, that decree was made law. Its present-day area of 44,000 hectares, which is the result of several enlargements, includes 22 towns in the provinces of L'Aquila, Frosinone and Isernia.
In 1980 the Autonomous Board "National Park of Abruzzo", in charge of the Park administration, has started a zonation project, which consists in dividing the whole territory in zones. This Board has set very severe restraints on full protection areas and it has established more flexible rules for tourism in the remaining ones. At present, the Park is divided into 4 zones: Full Reserve, General Reserve, Protection Zone and Development Zone. Almost every town has been provided with a Tour Information Centre and with Zone Offices. A Centre for the Apennine Ecological Studies has also been established in order to do research and publish data on the rarest animal species.