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Campo Imperatore is a high basin shaped plateau located in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy in the Gran Sasso massif . It is the largest plateau of the Apennine ridge. Sculpted by an ancient glacier, the Campo Imperatore nature preserve is part of the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga.

Summer, Campo Imperatore

Winter 2006, Campo Imperatore

The plateau, which is 27 km in length and an average of 8 km in width, lies adjacent to the Appenines' highest peak Corno Grande, and Europe's southernmost glacier, the Calderone; also surrounding the plateau are Monte Prena, Monte Aquila, and the Camicia Mountains to the north and Monte Scindarella, Mesola and Monte Bolza to the south. Campo Imperatore is

The plateau's altitude ranges from 1500 to 1900 meters. It covers an expanse of approximately 80 square km.

Campo Imperatore is home to one of Italy's oldest ski resorts, which began commercial operation in the 1920s and continues to thrive as a ski resort to this day due to its proximity to Rome (132 km or under an hour-and-a-half by car). (The resort became dictator Benito Mussolini's prison in August 1943 with his fall from power until he was freed by German commandos in September 1943.)

January 5, 2007, after Italy's warmest December on record, normally Campo Imperatore would be covered in deep snow

Although the ski resort at Campo Imperatore's northwest corner is popular in winter, the rest of the plateau is remarkably free of tourists.

Campo Imperatore is also home to the Alpine Botanical Garden of Campo Imperatore. Founded in 1952, the garden is devoted to cultivation and study of some 300 species indigenous mountainous plants, including rare and endangered plant species, among them Vaccinium gaultherioides, Yellow Gentiana, (Gentiana lutea), Edelweiss of the Appennines (Leontopodium nivale), and Adonis distorta -- all plants that have adapted to Campo Imperatore's unique environment. Campo Imperatore is also the habitat for the Apennine wolf, Apennine wildcat and the Abruzzo chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata). Nearly extinct, the Abruzzo chamois, which naturalists consider one of the most beautiful varieties of chamois, is making a comeback through a joint effort by WWF Italia and the administration of the Gran Sasso National Park. Other species of wildlife include wild boar, foxes, grass snakes, and a wide variety of bird life including golden eagles and peregrine falcons.

Also located on the high plateau, taking advantage of the elevation and absence of man-made light, is the Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Objects Survey (CINEOS), an observatory built in 1951 and a branch of the Rome Observatory

Looking down from the southeastern edge of Campo Imperatore to Castel del Monte below, one of the medieval hill towns adjacient to the plateau, the fortress ruin of Rocco Calascio sits atop peak in the background

On the southeastern side of Campo Imperatore are medieval hill towns once ruled by the Medicis, Castel Del Monte, Calascio and Santo Stefano di Sessanio. In spring, summer and fall, shepherds from these neighboring hill towns maintain herds of sheep, "semi-wild" horses, and cattle in the plateau.The pastures are covered with field grasses and meadowland wildflowers.

Wild Horse on high plain, January 11, 2007

Campo Imperatore has been popular with filmmakers, a location used in more than twenty major films, among them The Name of the Rose, starring Sean Connery, Christian Slater and Fred Murray Abraham, Ladyhawke, starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Leo McKern. and Michelle Pfeiffer and directed by Richard Donner, Il sole anche di notte, starring Nastassja Kinski, Julian Sands and Massimo Bonetti, and L'Armata ritorna, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli and Anouk Aimée.