Stelvio National Park is a national park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

 in the north-east of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, founded in 1935.

The park is the largest in Italy and covers part of two regions: Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Lombardia, in 24 municipalities.

Stelvio National Park has borders with the Swiss National Park

Swiss National Park

The Swiss National Park is located in the canton of Graubünden in the east of Switzerland between Zernez, S-chanf, Scuol and the Fuorn Pass in the Engadin valley on the border with Italy....

, the Parco naturale provinciale dell'Adamello-Brenta and the Parco regionale dell'Adamello. Together, these parks comprise 400000 hectares (1,544.4 sq mi) of protected natural environment. The park includes an extensive territory of valleys and high mountains, ranging from 650 metres (2,132.5 ft) to 3900 m (12,795.3 ft) in height.

Stelvio National Park is home to a variety of wildlife including Chamois

Chamois

The chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra, is a goat-antelope species native to mountains in Europe, including the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, the European Alps, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, and the Caucasus. The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand...

, Alpine Ibex

Alpine Ibex

The Alpine ibex, , is a species of wild goat that lives in the mountains of the European Alps. In its habitat region, the species is known as bouquetin , steinbock , and stambecco ....

, Roe Deer

Roe Deer

The European Roe Deer , also known as the Western Roe Deer, chevreuil or just Roe Deer, is a Eurasian species of deer. It is relatively small, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapted to cold environments. Roe Deer are widespread in Western Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, and from...

, Red Deer, Wild Boar, Red Fox

Red Fox

The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...

es, Stoat

Stoat

The stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...

s , Least Weasel

Least Weasel

The least weasel is the smallest member of the Mustelidae , native to Eurasia, North America and North Africa, though it has been introduced elsewhere. It is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN, due to its wide distribution and presumably large population...

s, Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...

s, Alpine Marmot

Alpine Marmot

The Alpine Marmot is a species of marmot found in mountainous areas of central and southern Europe. Alpine marmots live at heights between 800 and 3,200 metres in the Alps, Carpathians, Tatras, the Pyrenees and Northern Apennines in Italy...

s, Mountain Hare

Mountain Hare

The Mountain Hare , also known as Blue Hare, Tundra Hare, Variable Hare, White Hare, Alpine Hare and Irish Hare, is a hare, which is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats. It is distributed from Fennoscandia to eastern Siberia; in addition there are isolated populations in the Alps,...

s, Eurasian Badgers, Beech Marten

Beech Marten

The beech marten , also known as the stone marten or white breasted marten, is a species of marten native to much of Europe and Central Asia, though it has established a feral population in North America. It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN on account of its wide distribution, its large...

s , European Pine Martens , European Mole

European Mole

The European Mole, Talpa europaea, is a mammal of the order Soricomorpha. It is also known as the Common Mole and the Northern Mole....

, Hazel Grouse

Hazel Grouse

The Hazel Grouse or Hazel Hen is one of the smaller members of the grouse family of birds. It is a sedentary species, breeding across northern Eurasia and central and eastern Europe in dense, damp, mixed coniferous woodland, preferably with some spruce.The nest is on the ground, and 3–6 eggs is...

, Lammergeiers, Ravens

Common Raven

The Common Raven , also known as the Northern Raven, is a large, all-black passerine bird. Found across the northern hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids...

, Carrion Crow

Carrion Crow

The Carrion Crow is a member of the passerine order of birds and the crow family which is native to western Europe and eastern Asia.-Taxonomy:...

, Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The Great Spotted Woodpecker , Dendrocopos major, is a bird species of the woodpecker family . It is distributed throughout Europe and northern Asia, and usually resident year-round except in the colder parts of its range...

s, Black Woodpecker

Black Woodpecker

The Black Woodpecker, Dryocopus martius, is a large woodpecker, 45–50 cm long with a 64–84 cm wingspan. Body weight is approximately 300-400 grams on average. It is easily the largest woodpecker in its range...

s, Buzzards, Nutcracker

Nutcracker (bird)

The nutcrackers are a genus of two species of passerine bird, in the family Corvidae, related to the jays and crows. One, the Spotted Nutcracker , occurs in Europe and Asia, the other, Clark's Nutcracker , in western North America.The most important food resources for both these species are the...

s, Eurasian Dotterel

Eurasian Dotterel

The Eurasian Dotterel , or in Europe just Dotterel, is a small wader in the plover family of birds.It breeds in the Arctic tundra of northern Eurasia, from Norway to eastern Siberia, and on suitable mountain plateaus such as the Scottish highlands and the Alps...

s, Rock Partridge

Rock Partridge

The Rock Partridge, Alectoris graeca, is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds.This partridge has its main range in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe, and is closely related and very similar to its eastern equivalent, the Chukar...

s, Western Capercaillies, Eurasian Eagle-owls and Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...

s.

Flora

For example Arnica montana

Arnica montana

Arnica montana, known commonly as leopard's bane, wolf's bane, mountain tobacco and mountain arnica, is a European flowering plant with large yellow capitula....

, Biscutella leavigata, Androsace vitaliana, Pulsatilla vernalis

Pulsatilla vernalis

Pulsatilla vernalis belongs to the Buttercup family , native to Europe.It grows to 5–15 cm high. The finely-dissected leaves appear in early spring....

, Artemisia umbelliformis (genépi), Aster alpinus

Aster alpinus

Aster alpinus is an ornamental plant native the mountains of Europe , with a subspecies native to Canada and the United States. It is a perennial forb having purple, pink or blue flowers belonging to the genus Aster.-Description: It grows to be about 6-12 inches...

, Dianthus superbus

Dianthus superbus

Dianthus superbus is a species of Dianthus native to Europe and northern Asia, from northernmost Spain and France north to arctic Norway, and east to Japan; in the south of its range, it occurs at high altitudes, up to 2,400 m....

, Dianthus carthusianorum

Dianthus carthusianorum

Dianthus carthusianorum is a species of Dianthus, native to Europe, from Spain north to Belgium and Poland, and east to Ukraine, occurring in dry, grassy habitats at altitudes of up to 2,500 m in mountains....

, Trollius europaeus, Dryas octopetala

Dryas octopetala

Dryas octopetala is an arctic-alpine flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. It is a small prostrate evergreen subshrub forming large colonies, and is a popular flower in rock gardens...

, Crocus albiflorus, Draba aizoides

Draba aizoides

Draba aizoides is a species of Draba, known as yellow whitlow-grass.-Description:Draba aizoides is a perennial plant, with a basal rosette of linear, entire leaves...

, Hepatica nobilis, Gentiana acaulis

Gentiana acaulis

Gentiana acaulis is a small gentian native to central and southern Europe from Spain east to the Balkans, growing especially in mountainous regions, such as the Alps, Cevennes and the Pyrenees, at heights of 800 to 3,000 m....

, Gentiana kochiana, Lilium martagon

Lilium martagon

Lilium martagon is a species of lily. It has a widespread native region extending from central Europe east through northern Asia to Mongolia and Korea. Several subspecies have been named. Horticulturally it is in Division 9, It is stem-rooting, growing between 1m and 2m tall...

, Lilium croceum subsp. bulbiferum, Linaria alpina

Linaria alpina

Linaria alpina, sometimes called alpine toadflax, is a purple-flowered member of the genus Linaria. It is found in many mountain ranges in southern and central Europe from the Sierra de Gredos and the Montes de León in Spain  to the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula including the Jura...

, twinflower Linnaea borealis, Aconitum napellus

Aconitum napellus

Aconitum napellus is a species of Aconitum in the family Ranunculaceae, native and endemic to western and central Europe....

, Paludella squarrosa, Primula vulgaris

Primula vulgaris

Primula vulgaris is a species of Primula native to western and southern Europe , northwest Africa , and southwest Asia...

, Primula elatior

Primula elatior

Primula elatior, the oxlip , is a flowering plant in the genus Primula, found in nutrient- and calcium-rich damp woods and meadows throughout Europe with northern bordes in Denmark and southern parts of Sweden, eastwards to Altai Mountains and on the Kola Peninsula in Russia...

, Ranunculus glacialis

Ranunculus glacialis

Ranunculus glacialis, the glacier crowfoot or glacier buttercup, is a plant of the family Ranunculaceae.-Distribution:Ranunculus glacialis is an arctic-alpine species, found in the high mountains of southern Europe as well as on the Scandinavian peninsula, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Jan Mayen,...

, Rhodiola rosea

Rhodiola rosea

Rhodiola rosea is a plant in the Crassulaceae family that grows in cold regions of the world. These include much of the Arctic, the mountains of Central Asia, the Rocky Mountains, and mountainous parts of Europe, such as the Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathian Mountains, Scandinavia, Iceland, Great...

, saxifrages, Cypripedium calceolus

Cypripedium calceolus

Cypripedium calceolus is a lady's-slipper orchid, and the type species of the genus Cypripedium.It is a widespread plant worldwide, found from Europe east through Asia to the Pacific Ocean. It is found in open woodland on moist calcareous soils. It is found in continental Europe growing in the...

, Drosera rotundifolia

Drosera rotundifolia

Drosera rotundifolia is a species of sundew, a carnivorous plant often found in bogs, marshes and fens...

, Silene acaulis, Leontopodium alpinum, Achillea moscata, Soldanella alpina

Soldanella alpina

The alpine snowbell or blue moonwort, Soldanella alpina, is a member of the Primulaceae native to the Alps and Pyrenees.- External links :*...

,Viola calcarata, Veratrum album

Veratrum album

Veratrum album, commonly known as the False Helleborine Veratrum album, commonly known as the False Helleborine Veratrum album, commonly known as the False Helleborine (also known as White Hellebore, European White Hellebore, White Veratrum; syn...

, Loiseleuria procumbens

Loiseleuria procumbens

The Loiseleuria procumbens, alpine azalea, are dwarf shrubs of high mountain regions of Northern hemisphere that usually grow no more than 10cm. It shares the history of a family Kalmiopsis leachiana...

, Empetrum nigrum

Empetrum nigrum

Empetrum nigrum is a species of crowberry known as black crowberry which is native to most northern areas of the northern hemisphere, as well as the Falkland Islands in the southern hemisphere....

, rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

s, Pinus mugo, Daphne alpina, Daphne striata, of trees mainly conifers Pinus cembra, spruce Picea abies, Larix decidua.

External links

• Pages by the Park Authority on Parks.it
• official page of park Parco nazionale dello Stelvio