The territory
The hydrography

The surface hydrography of Abruzzo is very complex, because of the diversity of mountain chains, some perpendicular, other parallel to the coast: the rivers Salinello, Vomano, Aterno-Pescara and Sangro have opened up passes through mountains, thus creating gorges of incomparable beauty (Salinello, S. Venanzio, Foce di Barrea, Gole di Tremonti).
All rivers flow into the Adriatic, apart from the Liri and the Turano which flow into the Tyrrhenian.
The main rivers originate from the mountainous chains and have considerable flows; the others, generally with a shorter course and scarce flow, originate from the eastern side of the mountain. Among the first ones we can mention the Vomano, the Aterno-Pescara, the Sangro; among the second the Vibrata, the Salinello, the Tordino, the Tavo and the Foro. Of these, only the Aterno-Pescara, the Sangro and the Trigno are over 100 kms long, and only the Aterno-Pescara (145 kms, the 2Oth Italian river) and the Sangro have a yearly average flow of over 10 cubic metres per second at their mouth.
As far as lakes are concerned, with the disappearing of the Fucino, the major one is now the lake of Scanno which, at 922 metres of altitude in the valley of Sagittario, between the Monte Genzana and the Montagna Grande extends for about one square kilometre. The other lakes of the region are all very small, mainly of glacial origin. Among them is the Pantaniello, at an altitude of 1818 mts., next to the Monte Greco and the numerous basins of the Gran Sasso. Among the artificial basins, finally, besides the already mentioned lake of Campotosto, are the lake of Barrea and Bomba, both along the river Sangro, Casoli and Penne.

Description

The mountains

The hydrography

The weather