Glacial delights in Italy's Abruzzo mountains

Haughty snowy mountains shaped by alluviums and glaciers, alpine ecology and plateaus of breathtaking altitude - it resounds of Himalayan Tibet yet its address is Abruzzo, Italy. The literal translation of Abruzzo's Campo Imperatore is the Imperial Fields but for locals and anyone who's visited, its real nickname is that of Little Tibet.
Not only is Campo Imperatore the largest plateau of the Apennine mountain range, but on its south-eastern side is the highest peak of the Italian peninsula. The Corno Grande, or Large Horn, towers almost 3,000 metres above sea level and is the centrepiece of the Gran Sasso National Park.

The Calderone glacier too, Europe's southernmost iceblock, seems strangely out of place in the generally steamy, central meridionale, and yet here it is, smack bang in the middle of Mediterranean Italy.

Global warming analyses scarily predict the glacier itself won't last beyond 2020, yet Little Tibet often has more snow than the Alps because of its different rainfall pattern. Indeed, Campo Imperatore features the country's oldest, continuously operating ski area and the whole region has 21 commercial skiing resorts, especially good for cross-country sport.

While it's hard to miss the Campo's dramatic peaks, a careful, closer look will reveal its indigenous mountain flora. Adapted to live in extreme conditions, these plants are small and not so flowery, with leaves that breathe at slower rates, and the Alpine Botanical Garden on the plateau's expanse, protects them all, boasting some 300 plant species, including the rare Vaccinium gaultherioides and Adonis distorta.

And so the features of Little Tibet impress themselves upon the spirit - climbing the horn's height, delighting in the glacier's blue ice, skiing to the ruined fortress of Rocca Calascio or walking through Apennine Eidelweiss.