by Day one of our wild animals and hiking adventures in Abruzzo, and we had already seen a bear. Or that was hoping our group of amateur wildtier spotters: a large, dark brown creature with a bitter back that was flipping over a comb over the valley.
Our guide Filippo, which gave the binoculars around, gently let us down. “It’s a lot like a bear,” he said – from a distance – but it was a wild boar. “The bear is much faster. It doesn’t stop. It moves through the landscape very quickly until it finds food.”
The Marsican Brown Bear is the icon of the Italian national park in Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise. Everywhere there are murals and peep boards that pierce their heads and represent more cuddly versions of this hard -to -tune, endangered creature. There are also street signs with bear motifs and warn you to watch your speed.
In 2023, a beloved three-year-old bear with the nickname Juan Carrito, who was famous for a bakery in a ski area, was hit by a car and killed a tragedy not only for Carrito and his fans in a village outside the park. Live inside or directly outside the Abruzzo national park.
The wild heart of Italy
The chance of recognizing a bear was not the only thing that pulled me to what the local nature conservation group Apenniner refers to in the “wild heart” of Italy, but only for a few hours to the east from the chaos of Rome.
There are hiking trails in the spectacular mountain backdrop-in May in the middle of an abundance of spring flowers, including wild pansies, iris and orchids or when they go in September, with mushrooms fragrant forests that compete with new England with the autumn color.
This region also houses wolves and has been doing for more than 400,000 years. After the Second World War they were almost died out, but the Apennine Wolf has been strictly protected since the 1970s, and there are now at least eight packs in Abruzzo Park.
Wolves I act see. On our second day we climbed at 5 a.m. to a morning wildlife observation meeting in an abandoned village with a panoramic view of a steep forest valley. Before we even got there, we spied on two of these charismatic creatures, just a few meters from our vehicle, and deliberately trotted parallel to the street on the low, scrubby hill. They stared at us directly and then picked up their pace and continued up the hill, camouflaged against the rocks and bushes. It was rare that wolves were seen so close in the city, Filippo told us.
The city was Pescasseroli, where we stayed four nights of our trip in a comfortable Nouveau style hotel. In spring, Pescasseroli is sleepy and sedated and wakes up like the bears from his winter winter sleep. In August, Filippo said, Filippo told us, the streets are affected with Italians during their summer vacation.
The tour on which I was with Exodus Adventure Travel is part of a more comprehensive effort in the region to educate people about the advantages of living together with bears and wolves. Despite misunderstandings, the Marsican Braunbär is quite shy and not at all aggressive (soothing if you sit on a lonely mountain idea that is only armed with a few hiking poles). There have never been bear attacks on people here, and wolves prefer to control clearly.
Exodus donates all profits from the sale of the trips to the resumption of apennas that maintain what they call “Bear Smart corridors”, which combine the Abruzzo with natural reserves and other national and regional parks in the Apennines. By minimizing human leg conflict in these densely populated and unprotected areas, they hope to encourage the bears, continue to roam and find new areas in which they feel safe.
One night in the wild
Our stay in Rifugio Terraegna, a 1,780 m above sea level, was a highlight of the journey in both senses of the word. We hiked through old beech forests, the lichens admired the living trees and marveled at the life that still falls into the dead – holes that were made by beetles and woodpeckers, and hoof fungus in the suitcase and jumping stones.
Our six group, strangers, when we made our way, but now connected (Exodus limits group greats at eight), spent a magical early evening with wildly wild talids with pasture tubes and foals. We only saw a Rogenhirsch (and heard a yellow -brown owl), but even a sudden downpour could not dampen our enthusiasm. When the clouds rolled over the mountains and broke through the sun, a double rainbow appeared.
When she returned to the lodge, our chief host DeBora greeted us with a blazing fire, on which we could warm our toes, and a festival, the local Pecorino, soft sheep’s cheese in 16 mountain herbs and “” “and” and “” “” Aged Pecorino, “A Feast),” A Feast) and “Local Pecorino At the age of 16 mountain herbs “and” and “and” “and” and “and” and “and” “and” and “and” and “and” and “” and “” and “” and “”, and “in 16 mountain herbs” and “”.Marzolina ” – The first goat’s milk cheese of spring. Garlicky fennel sausages followed with grilled eggplants.
I cuddled with the rest of the pack in a dormitory, filled with cheese and mountain air and had the best sleep of the trip, my dreams of shady wild animals inhabited.
In the end I never saw a bear, but it didn’t matter. I had seen her claw traces on posts, and her hair catching fences and trees when she left her smell on the way to others.
I knew that there were somewhere in the forest or high in a mountain cavity, and that was enough.
Essentials
Anna was a guest of Exodus Adventure Travels. A six -day tour, Italian apniner: walks and wild animals, costs from £ 1,449 per person, B&B, including one night in Mountain Refuge, listed meals, means of transport and activities. Without flights.
The departures include September 21, 2025, May 17 and September 20, 2026. Voeling Flies from London Gatwick to Rome Fiumicino of £ 70 Return. You also have the option to take the train to Rome by train (arrange through Exodus). Route via Paris with overnight stay in Turin, £ 714 Return trip per person.
