The wild in Italy certainly exists, and the myth of backpacking in the most remote, wild and dispersed natural areas is not only the prerogative of Into the Wild and of those in the United States who decide to give up everything and set out in search of a way to more authentic life and in contact with nature like the Off-Gridders: wild destinations also exist in our countryand indeed we don’t even need to go too far to find areas where we can get back in touch with our own more primordial and uncontaminated relationship with nature wild.
7 very wild places in Italy
Here then is the wild in Italy, from Val Grande to Aspromonte, from Supramonte in Sardinia to the Casentino Forests with their Sasso Fratino reserve, and then again the Monti della Meta with the Mainarde Molinase, the Sibillini and the Puez-Odle natural park : 7 truly wild places in Italy to be discovered, of those where sometimes he doesn’t even take a cell phone or a GPS and to visit which the good old topographic map combined with intuition, curiosity and a sense of orientation is still valid. Ready to pack your backpack?
1. Puez-Odle Natural Park
A small, precious wild gem within a territory that has nevertheless made nature conservation its vocation: the Puez-Odle natural park is the natural area of the Puez group and the Odle group, at an average altitude of 2500 meters and partly on the Badia, Corvara, Funes, San Martino in Badia, Santa Cristina, Ortisei and Selva in Val Gardena, in Alto Adige. Here, in Val di Funes, Reinhold Messner was born, around there are some of the most famous ski resorts in Alto Adige, but above all it is the quintessence of the fauna and flora of the Dolomites.
Credits: FlickrCC Shane Lin
2. Casentino Forests and Sasso Fratino Reserve (Emilia Romagna – Tuscany)
The Apennine park par excellence, with its territory extending on the Romagna ridge in the province of Forlì-Cesena and on the Tuscan one in the provinces of Arezzo and Florence: at altitudes reaching up to 1600 meters there are millenary forests characterized by hermitages , rivers and waterfalls and popular with deer, wild boars, foxes and above all the wolf, the king of the forest. In the heart of the Casentinesi Forest Park there is the Sasso Fratino Reserve, the first integral natural reserve established in Italy (in 1959), inaccessible because it was established in order to conserve one of the few examples of forest that has come down to us intact for millennia but “circumnavigable” thanks to a series of paths and routes that skirt its perimeter. And then the Casentino forests are also one of the most fascinating stretches of the Alta via dei Parchi, the great north-south crossing of the Apennine ridge.
Credits: FlickrCC Alessio Di Leo
> Read also: Trekking in the Apennines: the Alta Via dei Parchi
3. Aspromonte (Reggio Calabria, Calabria)
They are the Calabrian Alps, or southern Dolomites due to their conformation, and it is one of the wildest areas in Italy as well as the least known and least frequented in our country: in the marginal areas of the Aspromonte National Park, whose body manages the protected area , there are the most easily accessible access points, in municipalities such as Bagaladi, Bova, Gerace and Mammola where the visitor centers are also located; the true wild experience, however, begins in the most laboriously accessible mountain locations from which you can set off on excursions and paths from the easiest (such as the Sentiero dei Greci, 10km with a landscape-historical-cultural character) to those through which you immerse yourself in the true wild areas of Calabria.
Credits: FlickrCC Piervincenzo Canale
> Read also: All excursions in the Pollino park
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4. The Meta Mountains and the Mainarde Molisane (Molise – Abruzzo – Lazio)
The natural watershed between Molise and Abruzzo on one side and Lazio on the other: the Meta Mountains are among the highest peaks of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park and above all they are the most rugged, difficult to access and which have preserved the own wilder character as well as the Mainarde, the lowest reliefs and always characterized by the permanent presence of man: it is the territory of the wolf and the bear, made up of centuries-old forests, severe peaks, rivers, caves and waterfalls hidden to go to discover for example by following the L1 path which from Pianoro delle Forme leads to Passo dei Monaci (1967) and to the base of Monte Meta whose summit is however off-limits because it is fully protected to protect the presence of the Abruzzo chamois.
Credits: FlickrCC Lucio Musacchio
> Read also: The Centenary trail
5. Val Grande (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piedmont)
The largest wild area in Europe, 1 and a half hours by road from Milan and 2 from Turin. Incredible right? And yet it is exactly like this: Val Grande, in the north of Piedmont on the border with Switzerland, a huge protected natural area not easy to access, often completely isolated from the world and within which there is the Val Large in which access is totally prohibited and the Monte Mottac oriented and biogenetic nature reserve in which human interventions are permitted to guide the development of flora and fauna. To visit the park you can refer to the Val Grande Park Authority: the easiest access points are those from the few municipalities that lie within the park territory, then inside there are paths suitable for all abilities, from simple ones to families on real walks in areas where nature has taken over and which require more than hiking skills and adequate equipment.
Credits: FlickrCC Bjoern von Thuelen
6. Supramonte (Sardinia)
The wild, rugged, mountainous and impervious heart of Sardinia innervated by the paths followed for millennia by Sardinian shepherds: the Supramonte is approximately 350 square km of territory which includes the municipalities of Oliena, Orgosolo, Urzulei, Baunei and Dorgali, with centuries-old forests such as that of sas Baddes, sinkholes like that of Su Suercone, a protected natural monument, the Sardinian Dolomites above Oliena, canyons like the Gorroppu gorge in the Supramonte of Urzulei and the codule of the marine Supramonte of Baunei and Dorgali accessible only after hours of walking in nature. And then the interior of Sardinia is also a fantastic place for climbing.
Credits: FlickrCC Michele Anzidei
> Read also: 8 trekking paths in the Gennargentu
7. Sibillini Mountains (Marche – Umbria)
The wild heart between Marche and Umbria, with peaks that well exceed 2,000 meters and populated by wolves, bears, eagles and falcons as well as by a thousand-year-old and harsh nature and by abbeys and medieval historic centers that prop up its slopes. From the cave at the top of Mount Sibilla, where it is said there was a fairy kingdom, to the lake at the top of Mount Vettore, the Sibillini Mountains are also a territory pervaded by superstition, myth and legend all to be discovered through the numerous hiking routes that start from several Park Houses.
Credits: FlickrCC Bas Wallet, Francesco-1978, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Read also: Trekking in the Sibillini Mountains
And if you are really interested in the topic of wilderness there are a couple of beautiful books to read: Franco Brevini’s: The invention of wild nature. History of an idea from the 18th century to today and “Wilderness in Italy. Walking in places of silence” by Valentina Scaglia
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2024-04-09 10:21:34
#wild #places #Italy #exciting #journey #nature
