Monte Sirente is a mountain in

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

, central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, the highest peak (at 2,349 m) of a small chain extending for c. 13 km from the Altopiano delle Rocche, the

Marsica Marsica is a geographical and historical region in the Abruzzo, central Italy, including 37 ''comuni'' in the province of L'Aquila. It is located between the plain of the former Fucine Lake, the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, the plai ...

and the Valle Subequana, ending to the

Fucino The Fucine Lake ( it, Lago Fucino or ) was a large endorheic lake in western Abruzzo, central Italy, stretching from Avezzano in the northwest to Ortucchio in the southeast, and touching Trasacco in the southwest. Once the third largest lake in I ...

plain. It is part of the

Sirente-Velino Regional Park The Sirente-Velino Regional Park (Italian: ''Parco regionale naturale del Sirente Velino'') is a regional park in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, central Italy. It is centered on the Monte Velino and Monte Sirente massifs, including also the ...

. The northern side of Sirente is characterized by deep

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

s created by glaciers during the last

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

glaciation. The southern side declines in a more milder way towards the Fucino. Nearby is the

Sirente crater The Sirente crater ( it, Cratere del Sirente) is a small shallow seasonal lake in Abruzzo, central Italy. The depression, which is located at the center of the Prati del Sirente, a mountainous highland north of the Sirente massif in the Apennines, ...

See also