Overview
The mountains and their ancestral language are a lifestyle and a state of mind, which in Isola del Gran Sasso, in the province of Teramo, you can experience and interpret as you prefer.
Its strange name evokes a land in the sea on the mountain: it derives from the fact that the oldest center was built on a small land enclosed between two streams, the Mavone and the Ruzzo: a real "island" 415 metres above the sea, at the foot of the imposing massif, written in its toponym.
It is found placid, protected by forests and pastures, with the magnificent rocky theater, stretching from Mount Camicia to Arapietra, climbing up to the "Paretone" and Corno Grande, the highest peak in the Apennines.
If you want to climb, you are in the best starting point for ascents in the Gran Sasso group from the Teramo side, together with Pietracamela.
From here, you can also reach the Ruzzo Aqueduct, among sheer cliffs and waterfalls, passing through Pretara and San Pietro, a hiking centre to Mount Brancastello. Or you can reach the small lake of Pagliara and the small church of St. Maria in Pagliara, with a breathtaking view of Mount Camicia and the Leomogna valley.
Also from Pretara, you can get to the hermitage of Santa Colomba, located at about 1250 metres above sea level, in a isolated place, under Mount Infornace. According to tradition, it seems that here retired the young Colomba, countess of Pagliara and sister of S. Berardo.
In the fortified hamlet, you can still find monumental alleys and squares with doors and windows with Latin sentences engraved on them; the portal in the flamboyant Gothic forms of the church of San Massimo and the fifteenth-century cone-shaped chapel of San Sebastiano are special features.
Outside the town, isolated on a knoll bordering the Mavone, you will find the splendid church of San Giovanni ad Insulam, which is simple and austere and among the most remarkable religious buildings of Abruzzo's Romanesque-Gothic style.
We also recommend a visit to the Sanctuary of San Gabriele dell'Addolorata (born Francesco Possenti da Assisi), the patron saint of Abruzzo and of young people. His remains are preserved there.
Initially the religious monument was a 16th-century convent, later expanded in the 20th century after the religious man there died. He was later proclaimed a saint in 1959. Subsequently, to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims, a new shrine was built in front of the old church.
Plan for your meal a rich "collection" of local dishes, such as maccheroni, often made with the characteristic tool known as "chitarra". You will also enjoy meats, especially lamb and pork, cooked roasted, on a spit, in a pan or under the coppo, inside the fireplace; highly desired is the "castrato", which is easily available in early spring and can be eaten roasted in the open air, accompanied by a good, strong red wine.