Your driver will meet you at the airport and take you to the delightful village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio where you will stay two nights at the stylish and sympathetically restored Sextantio Albergo Diffuso. You will meet your guiding team and embark on a lovely afternoon walk to a village with sweeping views followed by a local dinner.

Today we enjoy a wonderfully varied cycle down from the Gran Sasso mountains, partly following ancient transhumance trails, through villages and into a valley with Roman ruins, farmland, meadows, lakes and ancient forests, ending with a medieval frescoed chapel. We take a one hour transfer at the end of the day to the Maiella National Park where we settle into our base for the next three nights, the beautifully converted Case Catalano, in a gloriously remote spot under starry night skies.

We have a magnificent day’s cycling in the wide and spectacular Orta Valley, heading out on the western Massif slopes, pausing to meet local cheese and honey makers, stopping for a picnic lunch near the beautiful hamlet of Roccacaramanico and then cycling back on a wooded track below the eastern Morrone mountain and passing across the Orta gorge at Salle. The day is perfect for enjoying the flora and fauna of these protected mountains.

After breakfast it’s a 2.5 hour transfer back to Rome. If you wish to extend your trip to the Abruzzo coast we can help with arrangements.