Italy's National Parks in Rough Order of Founding, From the Apennine Bear Park to Cinque Terre

Established in 1923, this is the oldest national park in the Apennines and the second oldest in Italy. About two thirds of it is beech forest, and it shelters the Italian wolf, the Abruzzo chamois and the Marsican brown bear.

Founded in 1934 to keep the last remnants of the Pontine Marshes as they were being reclaimed. It is the only Italian national park that occupies solely a plain and coastal area, and it also takes in the island of Zannone.

Established in 1935 across Trentino-Alto Adige and Lombardy, with elevations from about 690 to 3,905 meters near the Swiss border. Researchers reported roughly 20,000 Triassic dinosaur footprints in the park in December 2025.

Established in 1988 and formally instituted in 1990 in the province of Belluno. It lies within the part of the Dolomites that UNESCO made a World Heritage Site in 2009, and its aims include protecting traditional farming and forestry.

Created in 1989 in Calabria, it rises from near the sea to summits close to 2,000 meters, with Montalto at 1,955 meters. It was recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark on 21 April 2021.

Created in 1993 on both sides of the Apennine watershed between Romagna and Tuscany. In 2017 UNESCO listed its Sasso Fratino Integral Nature Reserve as part of a serial site of ancient and primeval beech forests.

Established in 1993 across Basilicata and Calabria, it is the largest national park in Italy. It holds the oldest known tree in Europe, a Heldreich's pine of about 1,230 years, and the rare Bosnian pine is its symbol.

Established on 1 April 1994 off the coast of Sardinia, covering all the islands and islets of the municipality of La Maddalena, including Caprera, Spargi and Budelli. It is meant to form part of a planned Bocche di Bonifacio international marine park.

Founded on 5 June 1995 around the active volcano Vesuvius and its older, inactive crater Monte Somma, southeast of Naples. It is home to 612 plant species and 227 animal species.

Established in 1996 and expanded in 1997, it protects seven main islands, Elba, Giglio, Capraia, Montecristo, Pianosa, Giannutri and Gorgona, along with the surrounding sea. Mount Capanne on Elba, at 1,019 meters, is its highest point.

Protects the island of Asinara, long called Devil's Island, which served as a quarantine station, a First World War prison camp and a high-security prison before its park was established in 1998. It is known for its local albino donkeys.

Inducted as a national park in 1999, it is Italy's smallest and its most densely populated, with about 5,000 residents in five cliffside towns linked by footpaths. It was the first Italian park created to safeguard a landscape largely shaped by human hands.