National park "Stelvio"
   Photo: National Park of "Stelvio"

National park "Stelvio", created in 1935 - is one of the oldest parks in Italy and the biggest alpine national park, located in the regions of Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige. It stretches over an area of ​​131,000 hectares in the heart of the Central Alps with their majestic mountain ranges, vast green forests, mountain pastures and torrent rivers originating in the eternal glaciers. A variety of ecosystems of the park are home to many rare species of plants and animals, and its landscapes are dotted with small villages, located at the bottom of valleys or hillsides. Here, wilderness areas are combined with land cultivated for thousands of years.

For many hundreds of years and thousands of glaciers and erosive action of water flow created in the Stelvio National Park numerous valleys, which over time have been mastered by man to varying degrees. Each valley has its own distinctive features: for example, in Val Venosta you can see piles of debris at the foot of the mountains, Val Martello extended allocated peak Cevedale and Val Trafoi is located at the foot of the snow-covered mountains Ortls. Covered with lush greenery of Val d'Ultimo rich water streams and lakes, as well as Val Rabbi and Peio Val known for its mineral and thermal springs.

The main valley of the park since ancient times been used as a transport artery for hunters, seekers of minerals and traders. A good example of this can serve as an artery road from Bormio to the towers Fraele, and then - to the Engadin and Tyrol. On the edge of the park, on one of the busiest intersections, lies the small town of Glorenza, still surrounded by well-preserved medieval walls. In the 13th century people began to rise up from the valley, and began to develop high-mountain pastures, which eventually became an integral part of local agriculture. Some of the oldest summer sites are still used today.

The central part of the Stelvio National Park for the most part covered by vast glaciers and eternal snows, which are the source of many rivers and streams, in turn, form the waterfalls and lakes. On the banks of rivers and lakes grow many different species of trees, shrubs, herbs and flowers, including rare species such as the glacial buttercup, which can only be found at an altitude of 3500 meters, or pygmy styrax. Because trees are found alder, birch, European spruce, larch, cedar, pine and fir.

The rich ecosystem of the park gave shelter to many kinds of animals in the forests inhabited by deer and roe deer, chamois inhabit the high mountains and alpine ibex, and everywhere there are foxes, groundhogs, weasels, squirrels and hares. There are no large predators, however, in recent years, scientists have recorded in the park lynx, wolf and several juvenile brown bears. No less diverse and bird kingdom - in the sky above the park hovering kestrel, peregrine, hawks, kites, buzzards, etc.

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National park Stelvio
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