the sleeping beauty of Abruzzo (Italy)

Legend has it that Hermes, a giant, born of Maja the most beautiful of the Plejadi and Zeus the King of the Gods, was seriously injured in the battle of Flegra.

Hermes grew up so much that his friends no longer called him by his own name but "The Giant", he managed to return home to his mother that when he saw him injured he decided to ask the oracle for an opinion.

The same oracle replied that the only way for the son to heal was to cross the sea and climb the mountain, up to the slopes of a "Grande Sasso" (hence Gran sasso which is the highest peak of the Apennines, Abruzzo mountain range in central Italy) where he would find a magical herb capable of healing the giant.

Maja, the wounded son and his servants left, but a few hundred meters from the port of Ortona (a small town washed by the Adriatic Sea) were hit by a giant wave that made his servants lose their lives. Maja was saved, and with her she dragged her son Hermes.

Once in the mountains, Maja arrives under the Grande Sasso, but there was nothing to do for the grass as the mountain was submerged by the snow.
Hermes took Mama's hand and stretched.

Desperate, Maja carried her son on her shoulders and carried him to the summit of Gran Sasso. He carried it up there, because that way the son would have been closer to the sky and the stars.

After leaving him on the summit of the Corno Grande (highest peak of the Gran Sasso massif), the woman wandered for days on the mountains finding refuge inside a cave, from which she only came out at night to admire the great body of the son shine in the moonlight.

After some time the same Maja returned to where she had grown up, that is on the Majella. Some time later she died, the local shepherds buried her, and since then the mountain took the name of Majella.
Majella which will later become the mother mountain of Abruzzo.![unnamed (.jpg|509x313](upload://bFQJ48wSNOCnrHhTHBM8NeWI5Cv.jpeg)
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@ Yuri88Italy interesting legend; the image is that of a beautiful lady, thanks for sharing!

I enjoyed reading your legend about the goddess Maja and the Majella mountains in Abruzzo @user_not_found and love the photo you included in your post. Are you from the Abruzzo region?

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This picture is like painting…

Orange and red gradation color of sky… and black hills… nice picture.

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Yes, im from Abruzzo

Yes, im from Abruzzo.

Hi @user_not_found ,

I’ve noticed that your post has an Italian language label, so I removed it, as it’s written in English. If you want to know more about the language labels I recommend you to read the article How do I find posts in my preferred language?