Gran Paradiso National Park

Introduction

The Gran Paradiso National Park, established in 1922, is the oldest protected area in Italy and extends between Valle d'Aosta and Piedmont, in the southern sector of the Graian Alps. Its establishment marks the start of modern Italian environmental protection, born from the intention to preserve the alpine fauna - in particular the ibex - and the high-altitude ecosystems that characterise the Gran Paradiso massif. The area, of extraordinary landscape variety, includes glacial valleys, coniferous forests, high-altitude grasslands and a rich hydrographic network, offering an emblematic example of a natural transition from sub-alpine environments to high mountain landscapes.

Description

The history of the park has its roots in the mid-19th century, when King Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy established the Gran Paradiso Royal Hunting Reserve in 1856, an area of about 2,100 hectares in the present-day heart of the park. This decision - dictated by hunting interests - had as an indirect effect the preservation of the Alpine ibex, by then close to extinction. To protect the species, a corps of guards was created and a dense network of paths and mule tracks, still used today by hikers and park rangers, was created.
In 1920, Victor Emmanuel III, heir to the throne, donated the Royal Reserve to the Italian State to be turned into a protected area. Two years later, Royal Decree-Law No. 1584 of 3 December 1922 sanctioned the official birth of the Gran Paradiso National Park, which was later reconfirmed and enlarged by subsequent legislation (Law No. 473/1925 and Presidential Decree 3 October 1979). During the second half of the 20th century, the management of the Park went through complex periods - aggravated by the damage suffered in the Second World War - but from 1947 the creation of an Autonomous Board allowed a stable resumption of nature conservation and research activities.
The framework law n. 394 of 1991 subsequently defined the regulatory system of Italy's protected areas, consolidating the management autonomy of the Park Authority, now based in Turin.

The Park covers about 70,000 hectares, with altitudes ranging from 800 metres in the valley bottoms to the 4,061 metres of the Gran Paradiso peak, the only peak over four thousand metres entirely on Italian territory. The entire area is shaped by ancient glaciers and furrowed by secondary valleys that host environments of great ecological interest: larch, spruce and stone pine forests alternate with high altitude pastures, alpine meadows, peat bogs and moraine flows.
The most representative animal species include, in addition to the ibex, the chamois, marmot, golden eagle and ptarmigan, as well as a wide variety of amphibians, insects and floristic species typical of the inland Alps. There are also numerous sites for botanical and glaciological studies, bearing witness to a complex but fragile equilibrium, influenced by ongoing climate change.

The Park is not only a laboratory for the conservation of Alpine biodiversity, but also a cultural archive that preserves traces of human presence: seasonal villages, ancient royal mule tracks, mountain pastures and evidence of pastoral life. Many of today's paths follow the routes of the ancient communication routes between the valleys of Valle d'Aosta and Piedmont, now offering ecotourism and environmental education routes managed by the Park Authority.