Four Italian national parks to visit

Many tourists come to Italy to visit cultural and historic places like the Colosseum, Uffizi, Pisa’s tower, etc.

However, in Italy you can also find beautiful national parks where you can relax for some days surrounded by nature and wildlife.

So, if you’re in Italy and need a break from towns and cities, here’s some Italian national parks you can visit.

STELVIO NATIONAL PARK

Stelvio is an Italian national park founded in 1935 that covers two different Italian regions: Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige.

This national park is the largest of Italy and it’s also one of the most visited. It includes forests, valleys and mountains – up to 3,900m of height.

In this Italian national park lives a great variety of wildlife like chamois, red foxes, marmots, stoats, black woodpeckers and golden eagles.

If you like trekking, in Stelvio national park you can find many different paths. From the easiest ones for beginners, to the most difficult ones for experienced hikers.

For further information about the park, you can visit Stelvio’s official website.

MAJELLA NATIONAL PARK

Majella is an Italian national park located in the Abruzzo region. The highest mountain in this park is the Majella massif, which is more than 2,700 meters of height.

Majella was declared national park in 1991. In its territory there’s the 37% of all the botanical species that live in Italy.

The park has more than 500km of trails and a great variety of wildlife: chamois, Marsican brown bears, Italian wolves, red deers, golden eagles, and European honey buzzards.

In the park there are also two botanical gardens, some natural and archeological museums, some typical Italian villages, seven castles, and important archeological sites.

For more information about the park, you can visit Majella’s official website.

SILA NATIONAL PARK

Sila is another famous and beautiful Italian national park. You can visit this park if you’re in the Calabria region.

Among the Italian national parks, Sila national park has the highest percentage of wooded areas.

It also has wide valleys and several mountains. The highest mountain in this park is Mount Botte Donato which is more than 1,900 meters high.

In Sila National park you can find three artificial lakes, some rivers, and several wildlife species like roe deers, deers, boars, badgers, dormice, wolves, peregrine falcons, and barn owls.

For further information about the park, you can visit Sila’s official website.

GRAN PARADISO NATIONAL PARK

Among the Italian national parks, Gran Paradiso is one of the most famous. This park covers two regions: Piedmont and Aosta Valley and since it was established in 1922 it’s also the first national park to be established in Italy.

The area of the national park comprises woods, valleys, alpine pastures, glaciers and mountains.

The highest mountain is Gran Paradiso that is more than 4,000 meters high and it’s one of the highest mountains in Italy.

In this Italian national park you can spot many different wildlife species like alpine ibex, chamois, wolves, weasels, marmots, alpine accentors, Eurasian eagle-owls, and golden eagles.

For more information about the park, you can visit Gran Paradiso’s official website.

 

Have you already visited some Italian national parks? Which one? Did you like it?

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Credits

Original image by RomanBader