The flora and fauna of the Pollino National Park

It is Italy's largest nature park, covering 1,925 square kilometres of beautiful natural landscapes, straddling Calabria and Basilicata.

The Pollino National Park is a rich and vibrant area with extraordinary biodiversity, symbolised by the Loricato Pine Tree, the park's emblem. Rare flowers and plants grow in the woods and on the peaks, and protected species of animals live here, from the tiny salamander that moves through the undergrowth to the imposing griffon vulture that soars over the mountain tops.

If you love nature, this is a trip you will never forget: let's discover the wonderful world of the Pollino National Park.

In this vast territory, the vegetation is extremely rich and diverse depending on altitude, climate, soil type and exposure. All this contributes to making the Park area unique in the Mediterranean due to its distinctive characteristics.

Starting from the bottom, in the areas closest to the coast, up to an altitude of 700-800 metres, Mediterranean scrub prevails, characterised by the yellow of broom. Numerous trees grow here: holm oak, mastic, juniper, myrtle, arbutus, downy oak and field maple. Above 800 metres, in the 'supramediterranean' zone, the trees become more robust and imposing, dominated by various varieties of oak, downy oak, turkey oak, Oriental hornbeam, maple, chestnut and Neapolitan alder. Of extreme naturalistic importance are the maple forests of Monte Sparviere, on the Ionian side, where six species of maple coexist.

We climb up into the mountain belt, reaching almost 2000 metres, where beech forests prevail, often in mixed formations with chestnut, turkey oak and maple. On the northern side of the park, in addition to beech, you can also admire the elegant silver fir. The prince of the Pollino National Park is the Loricato Pine, which grows even in the most inaccessible areas, up to an altitude of 2,200 metres. Its twisted roots climb along the rock faces and withstand the strongest rains and winds. It can be recognised by its light grey bark, especially in young plants. It is a tree of extraordinary longevity and, over the course of its thousand-year life, can reach a height of 40 metres and a trunk diameter of over one metre. Some specimens are veritable sculptures with smooth, very light-coloured branches.

A sight to behold in mountainous and high mountain areas are the meadows and pastures nestled on the plateaus, covered with a blanket of colourful flowers, some of which are rare, such as the pilgrim peony, the alpine pusatilla and various species of orchids. Mountain yarrow, bellflower, gentian, mountain asphodel, wild daffodil, saffron and woolly buttercup abound. It is a triumph of scents, thanks also to aromatic herbs such as thyme, oregano, lavender, sage, mint, milk thistle, wormwood and mallow.

Life abounds in Pollino National Park. When spring arrives, industrious insects cover the meadows and populate the undergrowth.

This is where one of Europe's rarest beetles lives, the Rosalia alpina, which is ash blue in colour with velvety black spots. The presence of this insect reassures us of the purity of the air and the absence of pollution. Various species of colourful butterflies fly over the meadows, some of which are rare, such as the Melanargia arge. However, you need to watch out for the malmignatta, a red and black spider with a painful and toxic bite, which belongs to the same family as the black widow. We enter the cool, clean water of the Pollino rivers, where we also find a particular type of crayfish, an indicator of high water quality. With a little patience and taking care not to disturb the life of the forest, you can spot various species of amphibians, including the Italian crested newt, the spectacled salamander, the yellow-bellied toad and the more common tree frog.

Among the reptiles in the park, there are also two species of turtles: the European pond turtle, which is able to adapt to exceptionally high altitudes, and the more well-known European tortoise. Several snakes also live among the rocks, including the grass snake, the leopard snake and the viper. Looking up, you will see that the sky and mountain peaks are criss-crossed by numerous species of birds that live among the dense foliage of the park's trees. These include the rock partridge, the rare black woodpecker, the more common green woodpecker and great spotted woodpecker, all five Italian species of lark and the red-billed chough. If you are lucky, you may be able to admire the flight of a golden eagle, but there are twelve types of diurnal birds of prey that nest in the park, including the red kite, the peregrine falcon and two extremely endangered species: the lanner falcon and the Egyptian vulture, a small black and white vulture of which very few nesting pairs remain in Italy.

Not all animals sleep at night in the Park. It is during these hours that you can spot the great eagle owl, the rarest and most spectacular of the nocturnal birds of prey. The wolf also howls at the moon. Shy and stealthy, it lives in packs in the most mysterious and inaccessible ravines. During excursions, it is not uncommon to spot wildcats, martens, polecats and otters roaming among the dense vegetation of the woods. With a little luck, you may encounter splendid specimens of roe deer, which are rare and precious. The small population living in the park is considered one of the few native populations in Italy. Fast and curious, various types of rodents move among the grass, including the small and cute dormouse. Finally, it is not difficult to spot hares and porcupines and to catch sight of the typical southern squirrel on the branches of the trees, recognisable by its black coat and white belly.