Location: Trentino-Alto Adige/ Südtirol and Lombardia Map
Area: 133,325 ha
Official site
The Stelvio National Park (Nationalpark Stilfser Joch in German) is one of the oldest Italian natural parks, established in 1935, born with the aim of protecting the flora, fauna and naturalistic beauties of the Ortles-Cevedale mountain group, and to promote the sustainable tourism development in the Alpine valleys of Lombardy, Trentino and Alto Adige. It extends over the territory of 24 municipalities and 4 provinces and is in direct contact to the north with the Swiss National Park, to the south with the Adamello-Brenta provincial natural park and the Adamello regional park: all these parks, together, constitute one huge protected area in the heart of the Alps, covering almost 400,000 hectares.
It was established in 1935 on an area enlarged to 130 734 hectares in
1977 and characterized by a multitude of animal and plant species,
taking its name from the South Tyrolean municipality of Stelvio and the
homonymous Alpine pass. In its territory there are large woods,
agricultural areas, mountain farms, farmhouses and inhabited villages.
It is now administered by a consortium formed by the Ministry of the
Environment, the Province of Bolzano, the Province of Trento and the
Lombardy Region. The three management committees (Bolzano, Trento and
Lombardy) refer to a board of directors, in which scientific and
environmental figures are also represented.
On 30 September 2009
an agreement between the Italian State and the autonomous provinces of
Trento and Bolzano (through the joint body of the Commission of 12)
provided for the transfer of the management of the park to the Lombardy
region, the autonomous province of Trento and the autonomous province of
Bolzano, with the introduction of a steering committee made up of 7
members: 3 representatives of the municipalities, the Ministry of the
Environment, the Lombardy region, the Provinces of Bolzano and Trento
with the exclusion from the management board of the
scientific-environmental figures. The Italian Parliament ratified the
agreement in December 2010. The PD and the environmentalists accused the
SVP of having abstained on trust in the Berlusconi IV government on
December 14, 2010 in exchange for the go-ahead of the parliamentary
majority to subdivide the park; the SVP denied Stefania Prestigiacomo,
minister of the environment, abandoned Il Popolo della Libertà in
dissent with the party, but then returned to it.
Legambiente
denounced the risk of relaxation of the park protection rules in the
province of Bolzano, with the possibility of opening to hunting, the use
of forest roads, the creation of ski facilities and in general to
building speculation, with serious risks for conservation of the natural
habitat. In March 2011, the President of the Republic Napolitano did not
validate the Decree Law that sanctioned the passage of the Park, sending
it back to the joint commission of 12. On July 30, 2014, on the proposal
of the SVP and despite the negative opinion of the Ministry of the
Environment, yet another proposal for the dismemberment of the park is
forwarded to the Council of Mammatri (in conjunction with the stability
law).
Almost all the Ortler Alps peaks
are included in the park. The main ridge begins at the Stelvio pass
(2,758 m), the second highest passable pass in Europe that connects
Bormio to Trafoi, and rises to numerous peaks above 3,500 m, such as
Punta Thurwieser (3,652 m), the Gran Zebrù (3,857 m), the Cevedale
(3,769 m), to culminate with the Ortles peak with its 3,905 m. From this
ridge there are secondary ridges, however very high, which divide
important valleys between them.
Other important peaks are Monte
Zebrù (3,735 m), Palon de la Mare (3,703 m), Punta San Matteo (3,678
m)), Monte Vioz (3,645 m), Punta Taviela (3,612 m), Pizzo Tresero (3,602
m), Punta Pedranzini (3,599 m), Cima di Trafoi (3,565 m), Monte Pasquale
(3,553 m), Cima Vertana (3,535 m), Punta Cadini (3,524 m), Angelo Grande
(3,521 m), Punta dello Scudo (3,461 m) , Punta delle Bàite (3,458 m),
Cima Sternai (3,443 m), Gioveretto (3,439 m), Monte Cristallo (3,434 m),
Cima Venezia (3,386 m), Croda di Cengles (3,375 m), Cima Solda (3,376 m)
, Monte Confinale (3,370 m), Corno dei Tre Signori (3,360 m), Punta di
Lasa (3,305 m), Orecchia di Lepre (3,257 m), Cime dei Forni (3,247 m),
Cima Careser (3,189 m), Monte Scorluzzo (3,094 m) Punta di Ercavallo
(3,068 m), Cima Nera (3,037 m), Monte Braulio (2,980 m), Cima Vegaia
(2,890 m), Cima Tremenesca (2,882 m), Monte Livrio.
The protected natural area, located in a central-eastern position in the Alpine chain, just south of the main Alpine chain, in the center of the Rhaetian Alps (South-Eastern Alps), is immersed in the center of a vast amphitheater of peaks which along the The mountainous watershed divides Lombardy to the west from Trentino-Alto Adige to the east, with the provinces of Sondrio to the west, Bolzano to the east, Brescia and Trento to the south. The park extends from low mountain altitudes to culminate on the majestic peaks of the Ortles-Cevedale group, presenting numerous biomes and almost intact natural environments, ranging from pastures, to tundra, to fir and larch forests, to rocky walls and perennial snow formations.
In addition to numerous
streams along the respective valleys, there are several important
glaciers in the area, the most important of which is the Forni glacier,
the largest Italian alpine valley glacier, located on the Lombard side.
Torrente Frodolfo
Cedec stream
Rio Sclanera stream
Zebrù stream
Val di Calvarana stream
Val d'Uzza stream
Bormina
Braulio
stream
Rio Trafoi
Rio Solda
Valsura
Rio Plima
Torrente
Noce
Rabbies stream
Cancano lakes
Lake of the Careser
Pian
Palù lake
Gioveretto Lake
Lake of Zoccolo
In the altitude range from 1000 to 2000 meters, the park
environment is dominated by coniferous forests. The most common species
is certainly the spruce (Picea abies), which is associated with a few
isolated groups of silver fir (Abies alba), the latter present mainly in
Val di Rabbi, the Trentino area of the Park. These formations of trees
go up the slopes, thinning out towards the upper limit to slowly give
way to the larch (Larix decidua) and the Swiss stone pine (Pinus
cembra), widespread mainly in the Val di Peio.
The band of dwarf
shrubs follows the coniferous woods, which rises above the vegetation
line (about 2600 meters). After 2800 meters there are rocks, scree,
perennial snows and glacial moraines, where the presence of life forms
is guaranteed only by some tenacious and highly specialized pioneer
species such as lichens.
Inside the Park there are also
particular environments such as peat bogs: wetlands characterized by
highly specialized flora such as Drosera rotundifolia and Pinguicula
alpina, small carnivorous plants, which compensate for the lack of
nitrogen in the soil by capturing small insects, or the rare Paludella
squarrosa, a bryophyte with circumpolar-arctic distribution, present in
a few stations in the Alps between Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige.
The park includes a wide variety of morphological and
ecosystems, with large differences in height (from 650 m a.s.l. to 3900
m a.s.l. of the glacier peaks). You can find deer, chamois, roe deer,
ibex, marmots, foxes, stoats, squirrels, hares, badgers and weasels.
There have been sightings of wolves, lynxes and even bears, coming from
the nearby Adamello Brenta Natural Park.
Numerous species of
birds nest in the park area: ptarmigan, rock partridge, alpine chough,
imperial crow, jackdaw, woodpecker, capercaillie, black grouse, black
grouse, buzzard, sparrow hawk, the owl, the golden eagle and, thanks to
a successful and valuable reintroduction project, the bearded vulture.
Many animals find refuge there and it is also thanks to the natural park
that some endangered species are protected and cared for.