Prato Selva
A Gran Sasso ski station stopped by the 2009 earthquake and never repaired; the chairs of one lift lie stacked at the bottom station and those of the other are still clamped to the cable.
- Region
- Abruzzo
- Country
- Italy
- Status
- abandoned
- Year closed
- 2009
- Reason for closure
- Damage caused by the 2009 earthquake, compounded by a failure to carry out the extraordinary maintenance the installations needed afterwards. The lifts have been stopped ever since.
History
Prato Selva lies in the commune of Fano Adriano in the province of Teramo, inside the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park in the central Apennines. It was a long-established Abruzzo ski station until the earthquake of 2009 damaged its installations; the extraordinary maintenance needed afterwards was never carried out and the lifts have not run since. What survives is a particularly stark tableau, well photographed by Italian mountain journalists: the chairs of the La Ginestra chairlift piled in a heap at its bottom station, while those of the Colle Abetone chairlift are still clamped to the haul rope where they were left. The region has since worked on a plan to bring the lifts back and link them to the neighbouring Prati di Tivo to form a single ski area, but nothing has yet been restored. Its opening year, piste names and lift specifications are not recorded in accessible sources. Italian environmental groups count 348 disused or struggling ski installations nationally, of which Abruzzo holds several of the most emblematic.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Ginestra | Chairlift | Out of use for years; its chairs have been left stacked in a heap at the bottom station | |
| Colle Abetone | Chairlift | Out of use for years, with its chairs still clamped to the haul rope |
Sources and further reading
- https://www.meteoweb.eu/foto/prato-selva/id/1145628/
- https://www.abruzzoverticale.it/report/alpinismo-report/la-montagna-abbandonata-prati-di-tivo-e-prato-selva/
- https://www.abruzzoweb.it/da-campo-nevada-e-marsia-a-prato-selva-gli-impianti-da-sci-dismessi-o-fermi-in-abruzzo/
- https://www.dovesciare.it/news/2020-09-24/lo-sci-che-fu-lelenco-di-tutte-le-311-stazioni-sciistiche-fantasma
More in Italy
Location
42.5231, 13.4911