The Sirente Velino Regional Nature Park is a protected area founded in 1989, in Abruzzo, in the province of Aquila, the fourth most important in the region after the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, the Gran Sasso and the Majella national parks. The name Velino comes from the ancient Marsican dialect: vel means an area of water of which there are many, thanks to the formations derived from glaciers once present in the area. It covers an area of about 56,450 hectares comprising the massif of Mount Velino and Mount Sirente, known as the Sirente-Velino mountain chain and the surrounding areas such as the Rocche plateau, the Pezza Plain and part of the Campo Felice Plain and is connected directly to the Montagne della Duchessa Regional Nature Reserve in Lazio and comprises the Monte Velino Nature Reserve.