Val Grande Area Wilderness National Park

The Val Grande National Park, established in 1992, extends into the heart of the province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, between craggy ridges and solitary peaks. It is the largest wilderness area in Italy, a wilderness a stone’s throw from civilization. Until the 1950s and 1960s, the Valgrande was frequented in the summer months by mountaineers and woodcutters. After their abandonment, nature took over, making it a returning wilderness. It is a unique valley, where nature is slowly recovering its spaces, where endless woods, transparent waters and undisputed silences accompany our every step. A sanctuary of the environment, to be attended with absolute respect. But Val Grande is also history. The long story of a mountain civilization narrated by the places and people of the villages that surround this area between Ossola, Verbano, Val Vigezzo, Valle Intrasca and Cannobina.

Walking along the paths of the Val Grande we can discover the signs left by man in the past centuries when the valley was a destination for shepherds and woodcutters, traces of a hard and poor life that arouses interest and admiration for the ability to adapt to such an inaccessible and inaccessible. And even those who are content to arrive at the threshold of such a wild area, stopping in one of the centers that surround it, have the opportunity to grasp the sensations of a wilderness area. Because the Val Grande, even before being a park, is a valley of great emotions.