A cold morning I woke up well before sunrise, the time for a coffee and was out in my car driving carefully on the mountain road lightly covered in frost. The sound of ice crushing under the tires and the thermometer showing a temperature of 11°C below zero. Shortly before reaching the beginning of the trail that I wanted to follow, I met a busy fox, all fluffy in its winter coats, patrolling the very same road I was following. A brief glance and it jumped into the bushes, disappearing.
At present I live and work for three quarters of my time in Abruzzo (Central Italy), but before moving to live here, about two years ago, I had already spent countless days exploring this mountain region, getting to know its wildlife, meeting the local people and enjoying the cultural heritage. This is the place where my family is from, where I first discovered Nature and started with photography. Yet, my vast knowledge of this territory and its nature always suffered from a large blank spot: I had never ventured deep into the wildest and most mystical mountain range of all, the Majella massif – the “Mother” mountain as the locals call it. Surely a special place: the second highest peak in the Apennines… valleys that are even twenty kilometers long with no human living in them… one third of all Italian flora… the largest wolf, chamois and eagle populations in Abruzzo! A mountain worth being designed National Park.
Posted on April 18, 2011 at 02:04 pm | Leave a comment » 1 comment