The Abruzzo is dominated by the Apennines, which reach their highest peaks in the 2,914-metre Corno Grande in the Gran Sasso d’Italia group and the 2,795 metre Monte Amaro in the Maiella range. The entire region qualifies as an upland of 65 percent mountains and 35 percent hills. Even its few flat stretches – the Tirino valley between Sulmona and Ofena and, most extensively, the Piana di Fucino – are comfortably above sea level. The region is physically walled off by the Abruzzesi Apennines from Latium and Umbria to the west and divided by the Tronto river and its gaping valley from the Marches to the north. Conditions vary from cool and damp in the lofty interior, which feels the Mediterranean influences from both sides, to steadily warmer and drier towards the 129 kilometers of Adriatic coast. Some vines grow in high places, where warm, sunny days and cool nights can heighten wines’aroma. But most vineyards are planted in tapered hills of calcareous clay along the Adriatic, which provides ventilation even during the usual summer drought. Since the emphasis is on quantity, vineyards are concentrated in the gentle coastal hills of Chieti province to the southeast, where irrigated canopies proliferate in the heat.