It is located on the shore of the Lago di Barrea, a lake created after World War II due to the building of a dam on the river Sangro.

This document also mentions that Barrea was given to the Duke of Spoleto during the dark feudal times in Italy, a period noted for its anarchic regimes and barbaric raids.

Perhaps mainly to protect themselves from the fierce raid of the Huns, the inhabitants of the valley floor sheltered near a Benedictine monastery in a strategic position on the precipice of the river Sangro.

Many of the homes have been bought by tourists, who enjoy Barrea's location on the brow of a mountainside, giving out over the Sangro valley, but there are fewer than 1,000 permanent inhabitants.

Today, Barrea is at the center of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, a natural area rich in wildlife and recreation and lacking any aspect of urban commercialization.