San Pietro della Ienca is a small village at the foot of Gran Sasso d’Italia; once used by the shepherds of Camarda, the buildings have now been renovated for tourist use. The medieval church houses a small sanctuary, the first in Europe dedicated to St. John Paul II, who visited here several times.
From San Pietro, the route descends rapidly towards the valley below, crossed by the Raiale River, which further downstream provides a splendid setting for the sanctuary of the Madonna d’Appari di Paganica (AQ), declared a national monument in 1902.
Follow the stream for a short distance and, immediately after passing Masseria Cappelli and its partially renovated mill, leave the valley and climb westwards onto the plateau, which will reveal the magnificent mountainous landscape overlooking the Aquila basin, with the Gran Sasso massif behind you and the Monte Ocre chain – Monte Cagno – Sirente directly in view.
After passing the plateaus used for grazing and residual cultivation, descend to the small village of Collebrincioni, and from here, through a beautiful valley, descend towards the pine forest and the convent of San Giuliano. On the way down, you will come across the small church of ‘Madonna e Fore’, an afternoon destination for the people of L’Aquila and a place of meeting and prayer, as is traditional on Palm Sunday. At the end of the trail, you enter the city and, passing through the historic center, you reach the Basilica of Collemaggio, the final destination of the Natural Path of the Parks.
From San Pietro della Ienca, descend towards the Raiale stream and follow it upstream until you pass the “Masseria Cappelli” farm, then turn west and climb up to the plateaus overlooking L’Aquila. From here, descend first to the small village of Collebrincioni, then down towards the Convent of San Giuliano through the pine forest of the same name, unfortunately partially destroyed by fire in recent years, and arrive in L’Aquila. The last urban part of the route, through the historic center devastated by the 2009 earthquake, leads us to the Basilica of Collemaggio.
The route offers wonderful landscapes with the peaks near the L’Aquila basin crossed by the Aterno river, first and foremost those of Gran Sasso (2912 m), Monte Ocre and Monte Cagno, and those visible in the distance, especially when looking south towards Sirente, southwest towards Majella and southeast towards Majella. Such natural beauty has certainly inspired the construction of villages and places of worship, some of which have been elevated to national monuments, such as the aforementioned church of Madonna d’Appari (Paganica) and the Basilica of Collemaggio (L’Aquila). The latter deserves a special mention, as it was built at the behest of Pietro dal Morrone, the hermit who was crowned Pope here in 1294 with the name of Celestine V and whom Dante mentions in the Divine Comedy as “he who, out of cowardice, made the great refusal.”
