Campo Imperatore in Italy's Gran Sasso mountains is a high basin shaped plateau sculpted by an ancient glacier. Gran Sasso (Italian for great stone), a massif located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy, is the highest of the Apennines and the centerpiece of a national park (established 1991). ...

Summer, Campo Imperatore

The plateau, which is 27 km in length and an average of 8 km in width, lies adjacent to the Appenines' highest peak Corno Grande, and Europe's southernmost glacier, the Calderone; also surrounding the plateau are Monte Prena, Monte Aquila, and the Camicia Mountains to the north and Monte Scindarella, Mesola and Monte Bolza to the south. Campo Imperatore is located in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy and is part of the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga. The plateau's altitude ranges from 1500 to 1900 meters. It covers an expanse of approximately 80 square km. Gran Sasso (Italian for great stone), a massif located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy, is the highest of the Apennines and the centerpiece of a national park (established 1991). ...

Campo Imperatore is home to one of Italy's oldest ski resorts, which began commercial operation in the 1920s and continues to thrive as a ski resort to this day due to its proximity to Rome (132 km or under an hour-and-a-half by car). (The resort was frequented by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. It became his prison in August 1943 with his fall from power until he was briefly freed by German commandos in September 1943.) Campo Imperatore is also home to the Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Objects Survey (CINEOS), an observatory built in 1951 and a branch of the Rome Observatory. Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) was the prime minister and dictator of Italy from 1922 until 1943, when he was overthrown. ... Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Objects Survey (CINEOS) is a project that looks for near-earth objects. ... The Rome Observatory (Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma in Italian) is one of twelve Astronomical Observatories in Italy. ...

On the southwestern side of Campo Imperatore are medieval hilltowns once ruled by the Medicis, Castel Del Monte, Calascio and Santo Stefano di Sessanio. In spring, summer and fall, shepherds from these neighboring hilltowns maintain herds of sheep, "semi-wild" horses, and cattle in the plateau. The Medici coat of arms The Medici family was a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. ... Castel del Monte 5-Jan. ... Calascio is a comune and town in the Province of LAquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy Abruzzo · Communes of the province of LAquila Categories: | ...

Wild Horse on high plain, January 11, 2007. Area would normally be covered in deep snow but recent winters have been warmest on record.

Although the ski resort at Campo Imperatore's northernmost corner is popular in winter, the rest of the plateau is remarkably free of tourists.

Campo Imperatore has been popular with filmmakers, most notably as a backdrop for the mountain scenes in many of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns. Sergio Leone (January 3, 1929 – April 30, 1989) was an Italian film director who is considered by many to be on the short list of the greatest film directors of all time. ... Movie poster for Once Upon a Time in the West Spaghetti Western is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most of them were produced by Italian studios. ...