Update on Sentiero del Centenario

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After more than a year of anticipation, the Gran Sasso National Park (Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga) has allocated €300,000 for the maintenance and restoration of the Centenario Trail (Sentiero del Centenario). The trail, which has been officially closed since June 2024, will now receive much needed repairs to ensure it is safe for hikers once again.

The funding has been set aside for use by local municipalities responsible for the trail’s upkeep. While construction has yet to begin, there is hope that these efforts could allow the trail to reopen by late summer 2026. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Temporary closure of the F10 trail to Monte Marsicano

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The Abruzzo Lazio and Molise National Park (PNALM) has announced the temporary closure of trail F10 leading to Monte Marsicano from May 28th to June 15th. Authorities have indicated that this closure may be extended if necessary, as detailed in the original source [1].

This decision follows concerns over the conservation of the Marsican brown bear, a species native to our region. The area around Monte Marsicano is crucial for the bears’ reproduction during this period, and increased numbers of tourists attempting to spot them pose a significant risk. To protect both the bears and visitors, park officials have deemed it necessary to restrict access.

[1] Park’s news item, in Italian

9a/V17 boulder in Abruzzo: The Big Slamm

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Abruzzo is better known for its alpine climbs in the Gran Sasso massif, and the numerous limestone sport crags spread all over its provinces, but is now also home of one of the hardest boulder problems in the world: The Big Slamm 9a/V17.

The boulder has been climbed by Elias Iagnemma at the beginning of 2025, after 35 attempts by this strong professional climber from L’Aquila, who is also one of the few people to have climbed Burden of Dreams in Finland, the world’s first 9a.

The problem is in the bouldering area of Tintorale, in the province of Teramo. The climbing in this area is on sandstone, and there are over 60 problems, including an 8C+ (Ganesh, another first ascent of Iagnemma), and now a 9a. It may therefore be the hardest bouldering destination in Italy.

If you are interested in climbing in Tintorale, there is some info on MadBoulder.

New bivouac on Gran Sasso: Bivacco Desiati

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In the Vallone della Fornaca (Fornaca Valley), between the Prena and Camicia mountains, there was no emergency shelter since the old Lubrano bivouac was destroyed by a storm in 1999. And since the Fonte Vetica hut burned down in a fire few years ago, there was no shelter at all in the south-western area of the massif.

Luckily, the situation has recently changed: in November 2024, 25 years later after the Lubrano was destroyed, a new bivouac has been installed in the same area where the Lubrano was. The new bivouac is called Bivacco Piergiorgio Desiati, in memory of a doctor of the alpine search and rescue team of L’Aquila.

The Bivacco Desiati is located in the Vallone della Fornaca, at an altitude of 1815 meters / 5954 feet above sea level. It is already present on OpenStreetMap (and all the derived map products), and Diego (a YouTube user) recently posted a video of the bivouac in winter conditions.

Updates on Bivacco Bafile

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The L’Aquila chapter of the Italian Alpine Club posted an update (in Italian) on the situation of the Bivacco Bafile on the 28th of October 2024.

During the summer the bivouac, badly damaged, was deemed unsafe and the club asked hikers and climbers to stop using it for the time being. As of this week, the bivouac is permanently closed and ready to be moved. Until the structure of the bivouac is moved, it is also illegal to access the area where it is located. Pictures of the locked Bivacco Bafile can be found on the club’s update post.

Biodiversity in the Central Appennines

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In an article recently published in the Journal of Vegetation Science, a team of scientists of the Tuscia University found a very high level of biodiversity in the prairies of the Central Appennines in the regions of Abruzzo and Lazio.

They counted the species of plants and lichens in 97 plots, each measuring 10 square meters, in the Central Appennines, and found a mean level of species richness of 52, with a max of 85, in areas in and around our national parks.

In particular, considering that the highest number of species ever recorded in a plot of the same size is 101, the result of 85 measured in a plot in the National Park of Abruzzo Lazio and Molise is another remarkable example of how rich the nature in our region is, and how important is to protect it.

Centralized booking system for CAI huts

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The Italian Alpine Club (CAI) has recently inaugurated a centralized online booking system for all huts owned by the club. The new system makes the booking of stays easier, especially for people that do not speak Italian.

In Abruzzo there are four CAI owned huts:

The new booking systems is active from the Summer of 2024.

Closure of Bivacco Bafile

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The Bivacco Bafile (Bafile Bivouac) is an emergency shelter on the south-east ridge of the central summit of Corno Grande (Gran Sasso range). It is located at 2669 meters / 8756 feet above sea level and is accessible from Campo Imperatore via a hiking trail and a ferrata. Built in 1966 by the L’Aquila section of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI), it provides both emergency shelter from bad weather, and easy access to various climbing routes on the south face of Corno Grande. It is also very popular with hikers (equipped with harness, helmet, a ferrata kit, and no fear for exposure) who want to spend the night at altitude and see the sun rise over the Adriatic sea in the morning.

After 58 years in service, the bivouac was badly damaged by a storm during the 2023/2024 winter, and the CAI section of L’Aquila declared [1] that the structure is not safe anymore, and should not be used during the current season.

The good news is that they already got the funding for a new bivouac, that will be placed in the spot of the old one during the summer of 2025, while the old structure will be removed in the fall of 2024, repaired, and it will find a new home in the city of L’Aquila.

[1] https://cailaquila.it/inagibilita-del-bivacco-andrea-bafile/

Sentiero del Centenario: closed

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As you may remember, in February 2024 the L’Aquila chapter of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) upgraded the rating of the Centenario trail from a hike to an alpine route, due to the conditions of the equipped sections of the trail.

Unfortunately, on the 29th of May of this year the municipality of L’Aquila announced the immediate closure of the trail with an executive order; you can find the order here (in Italian). While the order only covers the section of the trail that is located in the territory of L’Aquila, the other municipalities that are crossed by the trail also published similar orders.

Therefore, the Centenario trail must be considered closed, and considering the time it may take to fix all the equipped sections, this situation may last for years. A sad day for our beloved region.

Abruzzo Mountain Race 2024

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The “Abruzzo Mountain Race” is a series of trail running events taking place in our region. While all events are independent from each other, and a runner can choose to only participate in one or some of them, there will be a special ranking for people that participate and finish all of them.

The races of the 2024 edition are:

  • Skytrail del Voltigno – May 5th
    • Distance: 33 km / 20.5 mi
    • Ascent: 2120 m / 6955 ft
  • Skyrace del Mammut – May 19th
    • Distance: 21 km / 13 mi
    • Ascent: 1480 m / 4855 ft
  • UTGS30 – July 14th
    • Distance: 31.7 km / 19.7 mi
    • Ascent: 2070 m / 6791 ft
  • Monte Amaro Extreme – July 28th
    • Distance: 29.5 km / 18.3 mi
    • Ascent: 2400 m / 7874 ft
  • La Sirentina Trail – September 29th
    • Distance: 29.5 km / 18.3 mi
    • Ascent: 1330 m / 4363 ft

It is important to remember, especially for foreigners that have never raced in Italy, that to participate in events like this one it is required to be a member of a registered sports club, and have a medical certificate that qualifies you to participate in a competitive running event.
For what concerns the club membership, it is often possible to temporarily join the sports club organizing the event for a small fee, usually between 5 and 20 euro. As for the medical certificate, foreigners can ask their doctor to write them one; large events, such as the UTMB Lavaredo Ultra Trail (LUT), provide a standardized form for all non Italian participants. While this particular form is not valid for any other event than the LUT, you can show it to your doctor as an example of what is required to race in Italy.