Overview
Prati di Tivo is a tourist resort in the municipality of Pietracamela (Teramo) located at an altitude of 1,450 metres, at the foot of Gran Sasso d’Italia, which at 2,912 metres is the highest peak in the Apennines. Surrounded by beech and aschiero woods, it is one of the most fascinating natural landscapes in Abruzzo, characterised by a very rich and varied flora with anemones, gentians, orchids and primroses.
Prati di Tivo is a tourist resort that attracts tourists and sportspeople all year round, as it offers visitors a number of customised seasonal services along with a broad variety of hotels. It is the most important site in the Apennines for both winter and summer climbing, and it features hundreds of kilometres of hiking trails for all levels of difficulty. In the winter season, it is a popular destination for ski lovers, and offers the possibility of exciting snowshoe hikes in the marvellous Bosco vetusto dell’Aschiero, a forest which is home to giant centuries-old beech trees. From Prati di Tivo it is possible to reach the Carlo Franchetti Alpine Shelter, located at 2,433 metres above sea level between the majestic peaks of Corno Grande and Corno Piccolo and near the Calderone Glacier, the southernmost glacier in Europe.
Points of Interest
Pietracamela is an ancient village located near the course of the Rio Arno at an altitude of 1,005 metres. The centre, perched on a mountain slope and surmounted by a looming rock, consists of elevated buildings and narrow cobblestone alleys surmounted by small balconies that look out onto belvedere terraces and dominate the Gran Sasso mountain range on one side and the vast panorama of the province of Teramo in the valley on the other.
Entering the small streets of the village among the stone houses, one comes across the ancient church of San Giovanni Battista, built in 1432, containing a wonderful and impressive weight clock mechanism from 1700. Continuing along the narrow streets we reach the Church of San Rocco, built in 1530 and dedicated to the saint during the plague that was raging throughout the peninsula at that time. Close by is also the imposing Church of San Leucio, Pietracamela’s patron saint.
Pietracamela’s peculiarities are undoubtedly the rock paintings by master Guido Montauti (1918-1979), an internationally renowned artist who was a native of this town. This is an open-air museum and a destination for visitors all year round.
Pietracamela is well-known within the Italian mountaineering world, as it gave birth and is still home to Italy’s longest-living mountaineering association, the ‘Aquilotti del Gran Sasso – Alpinisti di Pietracamela’, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2023.
A short distance from Pietracamela is the village of Intermesoli, which also boasts ancient origins and, between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, was a highly populated centre thanks to wool processing and forestry activities.
