This national park, founded in 1992, encompasses the highest massif of the Abruzzi, which stretches along two mountain chains: the Monti della Laga to the north, formed of marl and sandstone; and the Gran Sasso to the south, which peaks with the Corno Grande (2 914m). Sloping gently into long gullies to the north and, in the south, falling steeply onto immense glacial plateaux, including Campo Imperatore, a massif offering two strikingly contrasting sides: one abounding with splendid beech groves and prairies, the other grandiose and desolate.