GRAN SASSO  D'ITALIA ("

Great Rock of Italy "), a mountain of the Abruzzi, Italy, the culminating point of the Apennines, 9560 ft. in height . In formation it resembles the limestone Alps of Tirol and there are on its elevated plateaus a number of doline or funnel-shaped depressions into which the melted snow and the rain sink . The summit is covered with snow for the greater part of the year . Seen from the Adriatic, Monte Corno, as it is sometimes called, from its resemblance to a horn, affords a magnificent spectacle ; the Alpine region beneath its summit is still the home of the wild boar, and here and there are dense woods of beech and pine . The group has numerous other lofty peaks, of which the chief are the Pizzo d Intermesole (868o ft.), the Corno Piccolo (865o ft.), the Pizzo Cefalone (8307 ft.) and the Monte della Portella (7835 ft.) . The most convenient starting-point for the ascent is Assergi, to m . N.E. of Aquila, at the S. foot of the Gran Sasso . The Italian Alpine Club has erected a hut S.V. of the principal summit, and has published a special guidebook (E . Abbate, Guida al Gran . Sasso d' Italia, Rome, 1888) . The view from the summit extends to the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west and the mountains of Dalmatia on the east in clear weather . The ascent was first made in 1794 by Orazio Delfico from the Teramo side .

In Assergi is the interesting

church of Sta . Maria Assunta, dating from 1150, with later alterations (see Gavini, in L'Arte, 1901, 316, 391) .