Aspromonte National Park is situated in the southern section of the Apennines, in Calabria,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The park lies near the sea and includes mountain summits with altitudes close to 2000 meters ( Montalto is 1,955 m). The park's territory, crossed by several watercourses, is populated by important species such as Italian wolf, peregrine falcon,

Eurasian eagle-owl The Eurasian eagle-owl (''Bubo bubo'') is a species of eagle-owl that resides in much of Eurasia. It is also called the Uhu and it is occasionally abbreviated to just the eagle-owl in Europe. It is one of the largest species of owl, and femal ...

and northern goshawk. Most of the territory is dominated by forests of beech,

silver fir Silver fir is a common name for several trees and may refer to: *''Abies alba ''Abies alba'', the European silver fir or silver fir, is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Car ...

, black pine, holm oak,

sweet chestnut ''Castanea sativa'', the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived ...

and Mediterranean maquis shrubland. A couple of rare species live here:

Bonelli's eagle The Bonelli's eagle (''Aquila fasciata'') is a large bird of prey. The common name of the bird commemorates the Italian ornithologist and collector Franco Andrea Bonelli. Bonelli is credited with gathering the type specimen, most likely from an ...

and a tropical

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

Woodwardia radicans ''Woodwardia radicans'', the chain fern, European chain fern or rooting chainfern, is a species of fern in the family Blechnaceae, mainly found in Macaronesia and southwestern Europe, but is also found in southern Italy and Crete. Growing to tal ...

. Surrounded by the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, the park is also rich in historical, artistic and archaeological value.

References

* ''Yearbook of the Italian Parks 2005'', edited by Comunicazione in association with Federparchi and the Italian State Tourism Board

External links

Pages by the Park Authority on Parks.it
National parks of Italy Parks in Calabria Protected areas of the Apennines {{Europe-protected-area-stub