Overview
Get comfortable, like at the cinema, and enjoy the show of the Gizio River in the province of L'Aquila.
Its headwaters, which flow from Mount Rotella (2127 m; Muzza Tower Hill) in a narrow valley at the northeastern edge of Mount Genzana, can be seen in the Mount Genzana - Alto Gizio Regional Nature Reserve, below the village of Pettorano sul Gizio.
In this area, you will find the Industrial Archaeology Park equipped with educational trails in the green, ancient mills and equipped picnic areas, where you can relax with the sound of the river, which in its approximately 10-km-long course skirts the State Road 17, before ending downstream of the town of Sulmona, where it joins the Sagittario.
Immerse yourself in the riparian vegetation with plants of white and red willow, white and black poplar, joined by hops, vitalba and dulcamara, intertwined with shrubs such as hazel, hawthorn and especially black elder.
And since you are very close to one of the "most beautiful villages in Italy", also visit Pettorano sul Gizio, with its imposing Cantelmo Castle, once the home of the powerful lords of the area, which overlooks the river dominating the entire Peligna Valley from Guardiola Hill.
Today it is home of the visitor centre of the Monte Genzana Alto Gizio Regional Nature Reserve, where you can consult itineraries and ask for information useful for your adventure.