Piemonte Italia

The Gran Paradise National Park

In Italy, the title of paragon of nature and environmental safeguarding can be vaunted. The Gran Paradise National Park was, in fact, established in 1922 and its history starts with the need to conserve a mountain environment suitable for the survival of the mountain goat, an animal that has brushed up against extinction several times over the last few centuries and which, from this protected environment, has begun to repopulate the Alps.
The protected area extends over 70,000 hectares and straddles Piedmont and Val d’Aosta. The almost 33,000 hectares in our region begin at Orco Valley and Soana Valley basins and include part of the alpine chain that separates them from the Val d’Aosta. In this diverse environment, which rises from 800 to the more than 4,000 meters of Gran Paradiso’s summit, a well defined vegetation grows: in the lowest area, are larch, spruce and pine that bit by bit give way to pastures, alpine prairies, evergreens, and lichen.
The animal that is the symbol of the park remains, obviously, the mountain goat; however, the fauna and avifauna heritage is completed by the presence of all the animals which are typical of an alpine environment. Even the bearded vulture, gone since 1912, has now been reestablished in this natural environment.
The Gran Paradise Park offers the possibility of many summer and winter sports: cross-country skiing, snow shoe trekking, downhill skiing, telemark skiing, ice climbing, mountain biking, and horseback riding.

Immagine: Archivio Ce.D.R.A.P - A. Farina

Area: 33,862 hectares
Altitude: 800 - 4,061 meters
Founded: 1922
Environment: mountain

Head Office
Via della Rocca, 47 - 10123 Torino
Tel. +39.011.8606211 - Fax: +39.011.8121305