Five Stunning National Parks To Visit In Italy

While Italy’s sprawling cities attract massive amounts of tourists each year, there’s no shortage of stunning spots to explore outside the country’s urban oases. From the remote reaches of the Mediterranean to the French border, Italy is home to a wealth of incredible national parks, each one loaded with native wildlife and marvelous landscapes. As you plan your next nature-focused European vacation, don’t miss out on these incredible preserves.

Pollino National Park

While Pollino National Park’s towering peaks make it a wonder to behold, its most fascinating feature is its incredible floral biodiversity, with all sorts of flowers, shrubs, and trees dotting its landscapes. Perhaps the most fascinating individual organism in all the park is Italus, a massive Heldreich’s pine that serves as the oldest known tree in Europe at more than 1,200 years old. During a tour around Pollino, visitors should be sure to keep their eyes out for mammals like the roe deer, European otter, and even the Italian wolf, while there’s no shortage of charming alpine towns to wander through during a hike.

Maiella National Park

Spanning three separate provinces, the massive Maiella National Park is one of Abruzzo’s most stunning natural features. While the crown jewel of this preserve is certainly the Maiella massif—a large concentration of towering limestone mountains—the region is also home to vast swathes of beech forest, with no shortage of native Italian species calling the woodlands home. Iconic megafauna like the Italian wolf and Marsican brown bear are just a few of the mammals found within Maiella’s borders, while raptors ranging from the golden eagle to peregrine falcon can be found soaring through the sky in search of prey.

Gran Paradiso National Park

A predecessor to the national parks found across the globe today, the Gran Paradiso area was first protected in the mid-1800s to save King Victor Emmanuel II’s stock of Alpine ibex from being wiped out by poachers. In the modern era, the goats are still going strong, while other species like the badger, chamois, and marmot also thrive across the region. Though vast swathes of the park are home to glaciers and barren mountaintops, Gran Paradiso is no stranger to greenery either, equipped with verdant alpine meadows, beech forests, and pine groves—all of which serve as top-tier hiking destinations for visitors.

Gennargentu National Park

Measuring in at 730 square kilometers, Gennargentu National Park spans from the highest reaches of Sardinia to the island’s pristine eastern coast, showcasing some of the most incredible natural beauty in all the region—and all of that pristine land plays host to a wide array of Mediterranean creatures. A paradise for birdwatching, Gennargentu offers an opportunity to spot majestic species like the Eleonora’s falcon and Eurasian sparrowhawk perched high above the surrounding land, while weasels, martens, and even wildcats can be found hunting for rodents below. As an added bonus, the surrounding waters are teeming with cetaceans ranging from dolphins to fin whales.

Pantelleria National Park

One of the most recent additions to Italy’s national park system, Pantelleria National Park dominates its namesake island, comprising roughly 80% of the landmass. While the park is loaded with picturesque landscapes, visitors can also gain ample insight into the rich agricultural legacy of the island during their stay, with the historic vite ad alberello taking place across farms for generations on end. Designated a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity back in 2014, this grape production method involves the careful cultivation of vines to form a radius, with constant pruning to ensure the plant is flourishing as planned.