Cammino Naturale dei Parchi: walking from Rome to L'Aquila

Among Italy's long-distance trails, the Cammino Naturale dei Parchi is one of the youngest and least known, and that is precisely what makes it special. Born from the idea of joining on foot two neighbouring yet utterly different capitals, Rome and L'Aquila, it crosses a sequence of protected areas in Lazio and Abruzzo, always choosing footpaths, mule tracks and inland villages over roads. The result is a long green corridor cutting through the central Apennines far from mass tourism, where you meet more shepherds and walkers than crowds.

The route

The route sets out from Rome and soon leaves the city behind to climb toward the Sabina, a land of olive groves, abbeys and villages overlooking the valleys of the Tiber and the Aniene. Along the way it crosses and skirts several Apennine protected areas: the landscapes change gradually, from the gentle Sabine hills to the harsher heights of the Cicolano, the mountainous region around the Salto river, until it reaches the heart of Abruzzo. Here the trail enters the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, brushing the Montagne della Duchessa Reserve in the Velino group, and draws near the great bulk of the Gran Sasso, with its high-mountain horizons, before descending toward L'Aquila, a city of stone scarred by the earthquake and a symbol of rebirth.

The journey unfolds in several stages, each designed to be walked in a day and to end in a village where you can find hospitality. Along the way you come across historic villages, hermitages, abbeys, high pastures and beech woods, in an alternation of nature and culture that is the true thread of the itinerary. It is a trail that demands fitness and a spirit of adaptability, because some stretches are challenging and services are not as dense as on the more famous routes, but that very essentiality is its charm.

Unlike the great trails that have now entered the mass circuits, here you do not walk in single file: you may not meet another hiker for hours, cross nearly deserted villages where the arrival of a traveller is still a small event, and sleep in simple lodgings run with warmth by local people. This solitude, far from being a limitation, is the itinerary's most precious gift: it lets you rediscover the silence of the central Apennines, observe the wildlife undisturbed, and make genuine contact with an inland Italy that too often stays on the margins of the tourist routes.

The logistics

From a logistical standpoint, the two ends of the trail are easy to reach: Rome is served by every kind of transport, while L'Aquila is connected by bus from the regional capital and the main cities. For the intermediate points, it is worth checking local transport, which lets you join or leave the trail at several places, so you can walk it in stages over different weekends without having to tackle it all in one go. You move, of course, on foot, following the signposting and the official waymarks, and it is wise to obtain maps and the contacts of lodgings in advance, because in some villages beds are few.

When to go

The best period runs from May to June and then September. In late spring the snow has withdrawn even from the higher stretches near the Montagne della Duchessa and the Gran Sasso, the meadows are in bloom, and the long days allow comfortable, unhurried stages. September offers pleasant temperatures, clear air and the quiet that follows summer. These months avoid two obstacles: the harshness of the Apennine winter, which makes the high passes impassable, and the fierce summer heat, exhausting on the lower, sun-baked stretches. In any case, on this still little-trodden trail solitude is almost guaranteed in every season.

Practical tips

A practical tip: always book your lodging in advance, especially in the smaller villages where hospitality is limited, and let them know you are coming, because in many cases it is families or small establishments that provide the welcome. Carry a light but complete pack, with layered clothing and well-broken-in hiking boots, and plan your stages carefully around water and food resupply points, which on some mountain stretches can be far apart. Walking slowly here also means stopping to talk with the people you meet: they are the true guides of this hidden trail.