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). The nearest city is L'Aquila. Gran Sasso has two peaks, Corno Grande and Corno Piccolo (respectively, "great horn" and "small horn"). Between them is nestled the southernmost glacier in Europe, the Calderone. Corno Grande was first ascended in 1573 by the Bolognese captain Francesco De Marchi together with Francesco Di Domenico; nowadays, the tops of both peaks can be reached by hiking strenuous trails or rock climbing. A topographical summit is a point on a surface which is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. ... This article is about longitude and latitude; see also UTM coordinate system Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (vertically) and longitude (horizontally); large version (pdf) The geographic (earth-mapping) coordinate system expresses every horizontal position on Earth by two of the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system which... Abruzzo, (also known as Abruzzi, an older obsolete plural denomination) is a region of south central Italy, formerly a part of the Abruzzi e Molise region (with Molise). ... The most general definition of mountain range is a group of mountains bordered by lowlands. ... The Apennine Mountains (Italian: Appennini) stretch 1000 km from the north to the south of Italy along its east coast, forming the spine of the country. ... In climbing, a first ascent (FA) is the first climb to reach the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. ... Events January - articles of Warsaw Confederation signed, sanctioning religious freedom in Poland. ... Southern and northern Mount Everest climbing routes as seen from the International Space Station. ... Beautiful natural scenes are common hiking destinations Hiking is a form of walking, undertaken with the specific purpose of exploring and enjoying the scenery. ... In geology, a massif is a section of the Earths crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. ... Abruzzo, (also known as Abruzzi, an older obsolete plural denomination) is a region of south central Italy, formerly a part of the Abruzzi e Molise region (with Molise). ... The Apennine Mountains (Italian: Appennini) stretch 1000 km from the north to the south of Italy along its east coast, forming the spine of the country. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... LAquila is a small city in central Italy, having about 70,000 inhabitants, and is both the regional capital of Abruzzo and capital of the province of LAquila. ... Austrias longest glacier, the Pasterze, winds its 8 km (5 mile) route at the foot of Austrias highest mountain, the Grossglockner. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Events January - articles of Warsaw Confederation signed, sanctioning religious freedom in Poland. ... Bologna (from Latin Bononia, Bulaggna in the local dialect) is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, between the Po River and the Apennines. ...

At the base of the peaks is the extensive Campo Imperatore plateau, connected to the ski villages of Prati di Tivo and Fonte Cerreto via ski lifts and roads which are closed in winter. A hotel on Campo Imperatore itself is the famous locale where Italian dictator Mussolini was imprisoned for months in summer 1943 until his rescue by Otto Skorzeny and German troop carrying gliders on September 12. The plateau is also the site of the Campo Imperatore station of the Rome Observatory, from which the Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Objects Survey and other astronomical studies are carried out. Benito Mussolini created a fascist state through the use of propaganda, total control of the media and disassembly of the working democratic government. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... Otto Skorzeny Otto Skorzeny (June 12, 1908 - July 5, 1975) was a colonel in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. He is best-known as the commando leader who rescued Benito Mussolini from imprisonment after his overthrow. ... September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Objects Survey (CINEOS) is a project that looks for near-earth objects. ...

In the early 1980s two major tunnels, 10 km in length, were bored through Gran Sasso in order to construct a four-lane highway connecting L'Aquila with Teramo. Although the tunnel borers struck a natural aquifer, releasing a flood that killed seven workers, the tunnels opened in 1984. A side project was the construction of an underground physics laboratory, the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, along the westbound highway tunnel. Several experiments based here study neutrinos or search for dark matter, projects made possible by the bulk of the mountain shielding them from cosmic rays. Both tunnel and laboratory face strong opposition from local environmental groups due to their interference with the aquifer, presence within a national park, and a small-scale chemical spill at the lab in 2002. Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Disused railway tunnel now converted to pedestrian and bicycle use, near Houyet, Belgium A tunnel is an underground passage. ... LAquila is a small city in central Italy, having about 70,000 inhabitants, and is both the regional capital of Abruzzo and capital of the province of LAquila. ... Teramo is a town in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, 42°39N 13°42E, at 432 m (1417 ft) above sea-level, with 51,000 inhabitants as of the 2003 census. ... An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, or permeable mixtures of unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, silt, or clay) (see also groundwater). ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The neutrino is an elementary particle. ... In cosmology, dark matter consists of matter particles that cannot be detected by their emitted radiation but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter such as stars and galaxies. ... Cosmic rays can loosely be defined as energetic particles originating outside of the Earth. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In March 2005, it was announced that a 2424 m (7900 ft) peak in Gran Sasso will be named after Pope John Paul II. The peak is located in a region that he frequently visited. A renaming ceremony will be held on the Pope's 85th birthday. His Holiness Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), born Karol Józef Wojtyła [1] (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005), reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City for almost 27 years, from 16 October 1978 until his death. ... May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ...

External links

• Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso website (http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.gran.sasso/Eindex.html)
• Guillaume Dargaud's Gran Sasso climbing page (http://www.gdargaud.net/Climbing/GranSasso.html)
• Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso website (http://www.lngs.infn.it/)
• Pope to get 'own' mountain peak (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4377651.stm), a March 2005 BBC article