Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise, also known as the Abruzzo National Park, is a stretch of forest land. The forest is mainly full of tall coniferous trees like silver birch, mountain pines and black pines although a lot of low level ferns and scrubs also grow here. The park has a number of lakes and is cut through by the Sangro River. The park is home to many endemic and endangered species of fauna as well as common ones. Some animals found here include the Italian wolf, the Marsican brown bear, roe deer, the white backed woodpecker, an endemic goat antelope species and so on. Tours of the park can be arranged and more information is available both on their website and at their on-site visitors center.
This monastery was built on the ancient Tiburtina Valeria, in an area which was popular for trade and where travelers stopped (Kasaura was the name of a nearby tavern-brothel). It is one of Italy's most significant examples of Benedictine art. Ludovico II had it built in 871; it was then improved between 1176 and 1182 by workers brought from the south. It is more significant that the monastery at Montecassino. The monks who lived here wrote the Chronicon Casauriense which is an important document for Italian history. The portico has three arches and features a sequence of ornaments and figures celebrating of the power of God, of the monastery and of the people who funded the monastery. Representations of the evangelists, the apostles and other biblical characters are featured together with patron emperors of the monastery and the abbot Leonate, who was in charge of the re-foundation in the 12th Century. The relief on the lintel explains the birth of the church.