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(by Marta Dosi)

Valle Fondillo is located in the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park and it a wide and bright ice valley with an altitude between 1084 and 1960 above the sea level. It is narrow at the beginning in the vicinities of the locality Grotte Fondillo and then it opens like a fan to form an amphitheatre.

the valley is closed on the Oriental side by the Amaro Mountain and by Costa Camosciara, the first nucleus of D’Abruzzo National Park and a shelter for specimens of local fauna; Serra delle Gravare, at the border with Lazio, closes the valley on the Southern side.

The high presence of water, which is revealed by the presence of tens of small and big springs, which feed the Fondillo creek, has given the name to the valley and it contributes to the vegetative richness of the area: primulas, anemone, violets, red lilies aquilegias, orchids and irises are the most present flowers of the park’s flora. Gentians, junipers, arnicas and valerians are part of officinal plants; moss, lichens and seaweeds are located along the creeks and the valley.

A wide net of paths crosses flower clearing, willow woods and secular beech tree woods and it leads to locations of particular interest, such as Grotte delle Fate, a natural cavity formed by the erosion of water and with a spring inside it, or Valico dell’Orso, crossing point for Lazio, a wide clearing inhabited by roe deers, deers and bears. Apart from mammals (deers, roe deers and chamoises), birds (woodpeckers, titmice, mallards), predatory birds (eagles, hawks, sparrowhawks and owls), the valley hosts different species of toads and frogs, Salamander of the Appennines, the harmless grass snake and the rare Viper dell’Orsini.

The valley has always been the heart of numerous agricultural-sylvan-pastoral activities, in particular the cultivations of potatoes and lentils at the entrance of the valley and on altitudes with soils made workable thanks to hard work.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)