ski resorts

blimey. - 12/02/2008 12:38

Has anyone any experience or recommendations of ski resorts in the gran sasso area ?

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AnnaCachia - 12/02/2008 13:06

In the Gran Sasso area there is Campo Imperatore and only 80km away to the south there is Roccaraso, both famous with Italians though I have never skied there!!

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blimey. - 12/02/2008 13:17

Do you know of any specific resorts in Campo Imperatore. I have heard that the other one you mentioned near L'Aquila, I believe, is one of the favourites but I would like to try one nearer to Campo Imperatore.

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abruzzo - 13/02/2008 07:14

...for skiing in the gran sasso area there are basically three main resorts...the one mentioned before is reached by arriving at Assergi and taking the cable car... it can be quicker than trying to reach the resorts on the teramo side of the mountain as these have to be driven to

on the teramo side reached by road...you basically park by the ski lifts are prato tivi and selva ...it takes about 35 mins from teramo to arrive at the ski resorts...

all the resorts have had good snow this year...

you will find that to arrive at rocarasso from this area takes a couple of hours... but it has to be said it does have the largest variety of runs ... but is therefore generally more crowded

there is another resort up towards the campli mountains from here but that is small and am not sure if it is still opening...

the problem is that many resorts were built under EU funding because they had one year of good snow and the money was available... many of them especialley on the east side of the mountains rarely operate... through lack of the right conditions...

rocarasso and imperatore being on the right side... the west....will always get the best snow.. the other two around the gran sasso are at the end of the mountain chain...and benefit fro the height of the two corno peaks ....which always seem to be able to pull down more snow than anywhere else as the clouds seem to pile up around them and stay there ...and the fields can be offset towards the north...

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daisydaze - 21/04/2008 14:25

These places sound great - I'm really tempted for next year's holiday. Can you recommend any good places to stay in the resorts? Thanks!

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Filomena - 01/06/2008 22:17

Well, it's summer (almost) now but for next winter you can stay at hotels at La Villetta cabin- car base on the L'Aquila side of Campo Imperatore. The two hotels that I remember best are the Nido dell'Aquila and Fiordigigli Hotel. La Villetta is not very far from the medieval city of L'Aquila by car, about twenty minutes or so, although there should be a shuttle service up to the cabin-car base during the ski season. Otherwise you could decide to stay in one of the hotels in town, if you're not ski-mad and would like something else to do sometimes. If instead you prefer splendid isolation the Hotel right up at Campo Imperatore is a great place for snowy gales and snow right on the doorstep, though you can only get there in winter by cabin-car as the road is almost always snowbound until the spring.

Speaking of the summer, this part of the Abruzzi (the valley of the Aterno and in particular the upper Subequana valley) is very attractive, studded with stone villages that go back a very long time, to the Romans and the Italic populations before them, and suitable for a quiet countrified stay with plenty to see, do and buy. Apart fom the main towns (L'Aquila and Sulmona, the delightful birthplace of the poet Ovid that boasts a wonderful Roman aqueduct in the main square, charming, unusual religious rites on Easter Sunday and a twice-weekly market where you can find delicacies long forgotten elsewhere, as well as hand made filigree gold jewellery and handmade lace), there are interesting villages all along the road between the two towns ( for example Castelvecchio Subequo with its medieval "acropolis", Gagliano Aterno with its lovely fourteenth century castle, its fountain etc, Fontecchio and many others). The villages do nor offer much in the way of hospitality in hotels, but there are houses to rent or even to buy in all these places.

For lovers of things green the area lies between the Gran Sasso National Park and the Velino -Sirente Natural Park with extensive beechwoods under the crags and pinnacles of the Sirente Range. Filomena.

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daisydaze - 02/06/2008 09:07

Thank you so much for all your great travel advice - I'm looking forward to my next trip already! I'll let you know how I get on.

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nigelgrant - 18/09/2008 19:33

Do'nt forget the ski slope at Passo Lanciano (30 mins from Montupoli), It's beautiful and there's a beginners slope too! Our friends Mauro and Sabrina run an excellent Agriturismo in Montupoli, about 30 mins drive max! Their web site is www.agriturismomontupoli.it. Francavilla beach is 10 mins from the Agriturismo too!

Ciao

Nigel