Overview
The road runs in a setting of past times, winding through the Navelli plateau between the spurs of the Gran Sasso, the Aterno valley and the Sirente massif.
Near the Collepietro lake, the route climbs 4 kilometres up to San Benedetto in Perillis, an ancient village of medieval origins at around 850 metres above sea level, dominating the Peligna basin (whose name derives from pelagus, muddy).
You are in a valley, among the "places of the heart" of the region, a plateau that extends for a hundred square kilometres, crossed by the Aterno and Sagittario rivers, with ultra-millennial frequenting, among Italic and Roman populations, monks, noble warriors and feudal lords.
If you walk through the alleys of the pretty village, you reach the oldest part, built with exposed stone: it is the original nucleus of the place, formed around a fortified Benedictine monastery, built in the "Perello" area, which carried out a great work of diffusion of monasticism in the Tritana valley and throughout the L'Aquila area.
The ancient religious monument, dating back to the period between the 8th and 11th centuries and among the oldest artefacts in Abruzzo, has undergone careful restoration and to admire it you must plan another visit. You can only see the semicircular towers that emerge from the city walls.
However, you can visit the tiny 13th-century Church of San Sebastiano, which overlooks Piazza Don Luigi Sturzo, outside the medieval walls. Observe its façade of exposed stone blocks, with a Romanesque round-headed portal and sloping ceiling.
Nearby there is the Anthropological Museum, housed in the spaces of a restored 18th-century former oil mill, which tells the story of the peasant civilisation of the area over which the Tratturo Magno passed with a vast collection of objects and tools: the path, the main compass of Abruzzo's transhumance, which in this portion of land, after crossing the mountain above Ofena and passing Forca di Penne with its main branch, descended with the secondary branch towards Navelli and Collepietro, reaching San Benedetto in Perillis (contact the municipality for a visit).
Among those that have been made safe and can be visited, don't miss the exploration of the underground caves, underground rooms dug into the rock and once used for sheltering animals, but also for spending time with the community. Today they are used for recreational and cultural events.
Among the traditional dishes of the village, you must taste the "quadrinelle and refried potatoes" as well as the ferratelle (or pizzelle): the sweet ones, as they are prepared throughout the region, but also in the savory version, seasoned with pepper, chilli or olives.
Another specialty that you can only find here.