Italy's Remaining National Parks, From the Val Grande Wilderness to Sardinia's Gennargentu

Val Grande in Piedmont is often described as the largest wilderness area in the Alps. It was officially established on 2 March 1992 and covers about 150 square kilometers. It has no residents because people left after German military actions against Italian resistance fighters in June 1944.

Established in 2001 across Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, this park covers about 227.92 square kilometers between the Cisa and Forbici passes. Its ridges separate Tuscany from Emilia and rise above 2,121 meters, with alpine grasslands, lakes and waterfalls, and wolves, red deer and golden eagles live there.

Established on 6 August 1993, the Sibillini Mountains park spans Marche and Umbria near the town of Visso. At about 697.22 square kilometers it is classified under IUCN category II and is run by its own park authority, the Ente Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini.

Founded in 1991, this park covers about 2,014 square kilometers, mostly in Abruzzo. It is centered on the Gran Sasso massif, whose Calderone glacier is described as the southernmost glacier in Europe, and on the Monti della Laga with its alpine pastures and forested slopes.

Also founded in 1991, Maiella National Park is centered on a massif whose highest peak, Monte Amaro, reaches 2,793 meters. From 1998 to 2005 the mountain was the focus of the international TaskForceMajella geoscience project, and on 21 April 2021 the park was declared a UNESCO Global Geopark.

Established in 1991, Gargano covers about 118,144 hectares in the province of Foggia and is the largest park in Apulia. It takes in the Foresta Umbra woodlands, the Tremiti Islands and the Lago Salso wetlands, and holds many wild orchids and beech trees estimated at 350 years old.

Established in 2004 in Puglia, Alta Murgia covers about 677.39 square kilometers and was created to protect the grass steppe that supports the lesser kestrel. Within it stand the World Heritage Site of Castel del Monte and karst sinkholes and caves.

Founded in 1991 in the Province of Salerno, this park covers about 1,810.48 square kilometers and was created to protect the territory from building speculation and mass tourism. In 1998 UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site together with Paestum, Velia and the Certosa di Padula.

The youngest park on this path, it was established on 8 December 2007 in the province of Potenza, Basilicata, and covers about 689.96 square kilometers. Italian wolves and wild boar live here, and Eurasian otters are found along the Agri River.

Sila National Park in Calabria was established in 1997 and formally decreed in 2002. It covers about 736.95 square kilometers and absorbed land from the earlier Calabria National Park of 1968. Its highest points are Monte Botte Donato at 1,928 meters and Monte Gariglione at 1,764 meters.

The last stop is across the sea on the east coast of Sardinia, established in 1998 and covering about 730 square kilometers. It contains Punta La Marmora, the highest mountain in Sardinia, and is classified under IUCN category II.