Читать книгу Walking in Italy's Stelvio National Park. Italy's largest alpine national park онлайн

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Wildlife lovers will especially enjoy Martelltal, Val Zebrù and Valle di Rabbi, where there are lots of animals that are relatively easy to spot. A final note: injured creatures are nursed back to recovery in the area faunistica (wildlife area) at Peio Fonti. Here visitors have better chances of seeing deer and other ruminants than out in the wild.

One excellent guidebook is the Birds of Britain and Europe by B Bruun, H Delin and L Svensson (Hamlyn, 1992).

Valleys and bases

We begin with the eastern section of the Stelvio National Park in Südtirol. A short way south of Meran/Merano is Lana, where Ultental/Val d’Ultimo breaks off southwest. A world apart – inhabited by descendants of migrants from a monastery in German Swabia – it is a rare traditional valley of great allure. The mountainsides are dotted with clusters of timber chalets and barns crafted with bulky tree trunks intricately notched together. Stained red with age, they stand witness to the valley’s agricultural heritage. All around extend manicured emerald meadows, on impossibly steep slopes where mowers must be fitted with spikes to enable farmers to harvest the hay without slipping. Pastoral activities have been key to the economy since as early as the 17th century, when 20,000 sheep were sent to graze from as far afield as Verona. Vast forests of larch and pine provide shelter to both red and roe deer, and feed the sawmills of the flourishing timber industry.