La salvezza del mondo è nella natura selvaggia – In Wildness is the preservation of the world
Henry David Thoreau (Walking/The Wild, 1863)

UNESCO Site

The most powerful stories are those told by old beech trees.

Thousand-year-old tales, timeless legends stored to this day in precious treasure troves, in natural cathedrals: the old-growth beech forests.
Every single part of them is a repository of knowledge: in the shade of the huge tree crowns, the underbrush is a scented heart, and its discreet beating tells a tale far away from the cities.

The trunks of the beech trees are home to a secret and fascinating nature perpetuating itself through time.
The drumming of the woodpeckers in spring alternates with the roaring of the stags during the mating season in autumn and with the deafening silence of the snow-covered forests in winter, in a sort of never-ending refrain. Because there is no season the beech forests cannot tell a story about.

Thus, the seven sites of old-growth beech forests in Italy, in the heart of the National Parks of the Apennines, talk about our roots and tell extraordinary tales of our evolution embedded in nature.

Loading...

The beech forests

Bracciano - Martignano Regional Park

Monte Raschio

Comune di Soriano nel Cimino

Monte Cimino

Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise national park

Val Fondillo, Coppo del Principe, Moricento, Val Cervara, Coppo del Morto

Gargano National Park

Foresta Umbra

Pollino National Park

Cozzo Ferriero e Pollinello

Aspromonte National Park

Valle Infernale

Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona and Campigna National Park

Sasso Fratino

Stories

You may be interested in

Celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the Parks in Santa Sofia

A trip into the past to remember Italy’s oldest parks On Tuesday, August 23rd, in Campigna (Santa Sofia, FC), the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Gran Paradiso and Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise National Parks was celebrated. For this event, and as part of a series involving all the

A questionnaire on the perception of ancient forests

From the University of Tuscia, a new survey on citizens’ opinions regarding ancient European beech forests The transnational UNESCO site of the ‘Ancient Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe’ is composed of 94 areas in 18 European countries: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,

LIFE Prognoses

A project dedicated to the European network of UNESCO ancient beech forests Since 2021, the Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise National Park has been a partner in a new LIFE project dedicated to Europe’s ancient beech forests. LIFE Prognoses (Protection of Old-Growth Forests in Europe) is a project financed by the

Selva Moricento and ancient beech forests in the centenary of Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise National Park

A roundtable discussion in the council chamber of the Lecce nei Marsi Municipality As part of the centenary celebrations of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise, a roundtable discussion dedicated to the ancient beech forest of Selva Moricento took place on December 29, 2021, in the council chamber