Access Registration Portal
Valle dell'Orfento in the heart of the Maiella
A breathtaking canyon in the heart of the Maiella National Park. Access to the trails is regulated and requires a free access registration.
A breathtaking canyon in the heart of the Maiella National Park. Access to the trails is regulated and requires a free access registration.
Established in 1971 with an area of approximately 2240 hectares entirely located within the municipality of Caramanico Terme (PE), in Abruzzo, the Riserva Naturale Statale Valle dell'Orfento is one of the highest protection areas (Zona A) of the Parco Nazionale della Maiella. Biodiversity management and protection are entrusted to the Pescara Reparto Carabinieri Biodiversità.
The steep limestone ravines and numerous rock shelters of the Valle dell'Orfento preserve precious human settlements dating back to Prehistory (Paleolithic) and the Bronze Age. In the Middle Ages, the wild inaccessibility of the canyon and its majestic natural sacredness made it the cradle of Abruzzese asceticism. The symbolic place of this contemplation is the spectacular Eremo di San Giovanni all'Orfento (located at 1,227 m above sea level), entirely carved inside a vertical rock face.
Here, between 1284 and 1293, the hermit Pietro da Morrone, future Pope Celestine V, lived in extreme solitude and penance. The hermitage was equipped with an ingenious system of channels carved into the stone to collect rainwater. It was accessed by crossing a wooden footbridge and crawling on hands and knees through a gap of just a few centimeters: a spiritual test of total detachment from the earthly world that still fascinates visitors from all over the world.
Between 1943 and 1944, the Valle dell'Orfento was the scene of an extraordinary story of human solidarity. Following the armistice of September 8, 1943, hundreds of allied soldiers and prisoners of war who escaped from prison camps (including the famous New Zealand corporal John Evelyn Broad) sought refuge in the caves and stone huts scattered inside the canyon.
Despite the severity of a very harsh winter and the constant threat of Nazi-Fascist reprisals, the local population of Caramanico Terme provided them with food, warm clothes, and protection in a silent and heroic way. Broad collected these dramatic memories in eight clandestine diaries, published in 1945 with the famous title "Poor People, Poor Us" ("Povera gente, poveri noi"). A memorable page of hospitality that today inspires the famous historical path of the "Sentiero della Libertà".
Entry to the trails within the Riserva Naturale della Valle dell'Orfento in the Municipality of Caramanico Terme, the Heart of the Parco Nazionale della Maiella, on your own (without a guide) is regulated by a free access registration. This registration is issued remotely via QR-Codes located at strategic points in the Municipality of Caramanico Terme or at the Centro Visita della Valle dell’Orfento (Delibera di Giunta Comunale N.68 of 20/10/2021).
Registration is required for ecological monitoring purposes and the management of animal and plant biodiversity within the Riserva.
The reserve presents an extraordinary floristic diversity distributed over as many as 5 vegetation belts rising from the mixed oak and hornbeam hilly woodland, crossing majestic beech forests, up to the alpine tundra on the peaks.
Of immense biological significance is the thick vegetation of mugheta (mountain pine), a precious post-glacial relic of the Quaternary eras. The reserve counts about 1,000 plant species recorded, including many endemic to the Apennines.
The fauna is dominated by the great symbols of the Apennine wilderness: the Marsican brown bear, the wolf, the Abruzzo chamois, the red deer, and the roe deer. The skies are soared by the majestic golden eagle, while the very rare Ursini's viper lives in the high altitude rocky meadows.
Near the Caramanico Terme Centro Visite, there is a wildlife area dedicated to the protection and reintroduction of the European otter, an aquatic mammal highly sensitive to water quality.
