Tratturo Magno

Before Italy had motorways it had tratturi — grass highways up to 111 metres wide, protected by royal decree from the fifteenth century, along which shepherds moved hundreds of thousands of sheep between summer pasture in Abruzzo and winter grazing on the Tavoliere plain. The Tratturo Magno was the greatest of them: roughly 244 km from the doors of L'Aquila's basilica of Collemaggio, where flocks were blessed before the descent, to the customs house at Foggia. In 2019 UNESCO inscribed transhumance — the seasonal droving of livestock along routes like this one — on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, on a joint bid by Italy, Austria and Greece. The listing honours a practice, not a monument, and in the high villages above the route the practice is still legible. Castel del Monte, a stepped medieval town at 1,346 metres under Campo Imperatore, is the natural base: its entire economy was wool and cheese, its lanes are built with covered passages (sporti) and stables under houses, and its five-site Museo Civico Etnografico Diffuso walks you from fleece to loom to sheepfold. A handful of shepherds still make canestrato cheese here, now a Slow Food Presidium. Below the town, the tratturo's finest surviving stretch crosses the Navelli plain past the Roman city of Peltuinum, its theatre wall standing in open grassland. Nobody will be there. That is not a slogan; post-2009-earthquake L'Aquila province is among the least-visited corners of Italy, and the emptiness is part of what the walk is about.

The historic calendar still shapes the year: flocks traditionally left for Puglia around late September — the feast of St Michael — and climbed back to the Gran Sasso in May, and since 2007 an association-led group walk has retraced the route in stages, usually starting from L'Aquila in autumn (verify dates each year). May and June are best for walking the Navelli plain and the high pastures: orchids, poppies, working flocks newly arrived on Campo Imperatore. July and August are fine at altitude but hot on the lower Adriatic and Tavoliere stages. Castel del Monte's Notte delle Streghe, a theatrical night of witch-lore, fills the village on 17 August (verify exact programme). September–October brings the descent season and clear light; the high sections can hold snow from November to April.

Train to L'Aquila is possible and pleasingly obscure: the single-track Terni–L'Aquila–Sulmona line, with connections at Terni (from Rome via Orte) or at Sulmona off the Rome–Pescara line — slow, occasionally replaced by bus during works (verify current service). Honestly, most people arrive by coach: TUA and Flixbus run frequent direct services from Rome Tiburtina to L'Aquila in about 1h45. From L'Aquila, sparse TUA local buses climb to Castel del Monte and Santo Stefano di Sessanio; check the timetable the day before and expect gaps on Sundays (verify). Walkers finishing the whole route reach Foggia, a main-line hub with fast trains to Bari, Naples and Rome. There is no luggage-transfer industry here; travel light.

Sextantio Albergo Diffuso in Santo Stefano di Sessanio is the famous one — rooms scattered through a part-restored medieval village, wool blankets, candlelight, and the project that started Italy's scattered-hotel movement; it books out, so reserve ahead. In the same village, La Bifora e le Lune is a small, warm B&B run by a local family (verify availability). In Castel del Monte itself, the family-run Albergo Parco Gran Sasso pairs simple rooms with a restaurant serving the town's pastoral cooking (verify current opening). Down on the tratturo near Capestrano, Tenuta il Guerriero offers agricamping and glamping pitches for walkers (verify season). Along the middle and lower stages, accommodation thins out badly — plan each night before you start.

This is cucina di pastori. The flagship is canestrato di Castel del Monte, a raw-milk pecorino aged in woven baskets, made by the last few shepherd-cheesemakers who still graze Campo Imperatore — a Slow Food Presidium you can buy in the village. Arrosticini, skewers of mutton grilled over coals, were invented as drovers' food and are eaten by the dozen with bread and olive oil. The Navelli plain the tratturo crosses grows Zafferano dell'Aquila DOP saffron and prized chickpeas; Santo Stefano di Sessanio has its own tiny mountain lentil, another Slow Food Presidium, served as soup with a thread of oil. Finish with a caciotta, local honey, and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo carried up from the coast side.

Walk the tratturo — that is the point. The best-preserved section runs about 44 km in two to three days from Peltuinum, past Prata d'Ansidonia, Caporciano, Civitaretenga and the drovers' church of Santa Maria dei Cintorelli (verify access), to the Forca di Penne pass: dirt roads, meadow and Roman ruins, with GPX tracks essential since waymarking is partial. Ambitious walkers do all ten stages to Foggia, about 244 km. In Castel del Monte, take the five-site Museo Civico Etnografico Diffuso circuit through wool workshops, sheepfolds and a shepherd's house. Nearby, climb to Rocca Calascio, the 1,400-metre castle above the tratturo country, and ride or walk the vast grasslands of Campo Imperatore where the flocks summer. Start, symbolically, at L'Aquila's Collemaggio basilica, where the droves began.

• Language: Italian only in most villages; English works at Sextantio and with younger guides.
• Currency: Euro. Few ATMs between L'Aquila and the coast stages; carry cash for B&Bs and cheese.
• Navigation: No continuous official waymarking — download GPX tracks (italiadeicammini.it) before leaving; phone signal is patchy in the high valleys.
• Buses: TUA local buses link L'Aquila with Castel del Monte and Santo Stefano; few runs, fewer on Sundays — screenshot the timetable (verify).
• Sheepdogs: White guardian dogs work the flocks: stop, stand quietly, skirt wide; never run or throw anything.
• Water: Springs are scarce on the Navelli plain and lower stages in summer — carry at least two litres.
• Season: High sections around Campo Imperatore can be snowbound November–April; lower Adriatic stages are hot in high summer.
• Earthquake recovery: Rebuilding from the 2009 quake is ongoing; some village centres are partly scaffolded or closed.
• Festival: Notte delle Streghe, Castel del Monte, 17 August — the one night the village is genuinely crowded (verify programme).