Italy protects around a tenth of its land in 25 national parks and more than 130 regional ones. Gran Paradiso, created in 1922, was the first; the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise park still holds the Marsican brown bear; Pollino is the largest; Cilento pairs Greek temples with a mountain coast; and Vesuvius, Etna and the Aeolians make volcanology a walking activity.
© OpenFreeMap · OSM · terrain Mapterhorn · boundaries © EuroGeographics (Eurostat GISCO)
Start here
If you only do 5 things on this theme.
-
Gran Paradiso National Park Italy's first national park, created in 1922 to save the Alpine ibex -
Abruzzo, Lazio & Molise National Park Italy's oldest southern park, and the last home of the Marsican brown bear -
Mount Etna Europe's highest and most active volcano, at around 3,350 m and rising -
Mount Vesuvius The only active volcano on mainland Europe, with a walkable crater rim -
Cilento National Park Mountains, an empty coast and the birthplace of the Mediterranean diet
Everywhere else on this theme
-
Catania Black lava baroque under Etna, and Sicily's best fish market -
Aeolian Islands Seven volcanic islands off northern Sicily — one of them still erupting -
Elba Napoleon's exile island — and the biggest in the Tuscan Archipelago -
Isola del Giglio A granite island with a walled hill village and very clear water -
Favignana & the Egadi Islands Tuna-fishery islands off Trapani, with Europe's largest marine reserve -
Lampedusa & the Pelagie Islands Italy's southernmost point — geologically African, with Rabbit Beach -
Ustica A small volcanic island north of Palermo, and Italy's first marine reserve -
Tremiti Islands The Adriatic's only archipelago, off the Gargano -
Ponza & the Pontine Islands Rome's own islands — volcanic cliffs, sea caves and Chiaia di Luna -
La Maddalena Archipelago A national park of granite islets off Sardinia's north-east corner -
Asinara A former prison island turned national park, with albino donkeys and no residents -
Lake Bracciano A volcanic crater lake with a castle, an hour from Rome -
Terme di Saturnia Sulphur water at 37.5°C falling through white limestone terraces — free, and open all night -
Maremma Regional Park Pine forest, dunes and long-horned cattle on Tuscany's wildest coast -
Carrara Marble Quarries The white mountains Michelangelo chose his blocks from -
Lago di Braies Emerald water under the Croda del Becco, with wooden rowing boats -
Trauttmansdorff Castle Gardens Eighty garden landscapes on a hillside above Merano -
Lago di Tovel A glacial lake in the Brenta group that once turned red each summer -
Lake Como An inverted-Y lake of villa gardens under 2,000-metre mountains -
Lake Garda & Sirmione Italy's largest lake, with a moated castle on a two-kilometre peninsula -
Campi Flegrei A collapsed supervolcano west of Naples, with Roman ruins in its craters -
Blue Grotto, Capri A sea cave lit from below to an impossible blue — enter lying flat in a rowing boat -
Gargano & the Foresta Umbra An ancient beech forest on the spur of Italy, above sea stacks and coves -
Murgia Materana Park The ravine opposite Matera, with 150 rock-cut churches in it -
Pollino National Park Italy's largest national park, and the last Bosnian pines in the country -
Sila National Park A high forested plateau of pines and lakes — Calabria's mountain interior -
Scala dei Turchi A blinding white marl cliff stepping down into the sea -
Stromboli An island volcano that has erupted every few minutes for 2,000 years -
Riserva dello Zingaro Sicily's first nature reserve — seven kilometres of road-free coast path -
Golfo di Orosei Limestone cliffs with beaches — Cala Goloritzé, Cala Mariolu — reachable only by boat or on foot -
Neptune's Grotto A stalactite cave at the foot of Capo Caccia, down 654 steps or in by boat -
Comacchio & the Po Delta Canals, eel fisheries and Italy's biggest wetland bird reserve -
Castelluccio & the Piano Grande A high plain that turns to sheets of wildflowers in late June -
Lake Trasimeno Italy's fourth-largest lake, with three islands and Hannibal's battlefield -
Marmore Falls A 165-metre waterfall the Romans built in 271 BC — switched on twice a day -
Frasassi Caves One of Europe's largest cave systems — the first chamber would hold Milan's Duomo -
Conero Riviera White cliffs and pebble coves — the only real headland on the central Adriatic -
Monti Sibillini National Park Bare Apennine ridges to 2,476 m, with legends attached to most of them -
Gran Sasso & Campo Imperatore A high plateau under the Apennines' highest peak — 'Italy's little Tibet' -
Abbazia di San Fruttuoso A tenth-century abbey in a cove reachable only on foot or by boat
The regions that deliver on it
-
Aosta Valley Italy's smallest region, under the four highest mountains in the Alps -
Liguria The Italian Riviera — Cinque Terre, Portofino and pesto's home port -
Lombardy Milan, the great lakes and the Alps of Valtellina -
South Tyrol German-speaking Italy under the Dolomites - Trentino Dolomite valleys, Lake Garda's northern tip and Italy's alpine lakes
-
Emilia-Romagna Parmigiano, prosciutto, Ferrari and Ravenna's mosaics -
Tuscany The Renaissance, the Chianti hills and the coast most visitors miss -
Umbria The green heart of Italy — Assisi, hill towns and no coastline -
Marche Renaissance Urbino, the Conero cliffs and the Sibillini mountains -
Lazio Rome and the Vatican — and Etruscan tombs, volcanic lakes and a coast -
Abruzzo The wildest Apennines — bears, national parks and a trabocchi coast -
Campania Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and the islands of the bay -
Puglia Trulli, baroque Lecce, whitewashed towns and two seas - Basilicata Matera's cave city, the Lucanian Dolomites and a sliver of Tyrrhenian coast
-
Calabria Tropea's cliffs, three national parks and the Riace Bronzes - Sicily Greek temples, Arab-Norman Palermo, Etna and its own archipelagos
-
Sardinia Caribbean-clear water, 7,000 nuraghi and a mountain interior
Other ways to travel Italy
-
Art & culture More UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country on earth -
Food & wine Regional to the point of parochial — and all the better for it -
Coast & islands 7,900 km of coastline and around eighty inhabited islands - Italian lakes Como, Garda, Maggiore — the Grand Tour's original destination
-
Mountains & the Dolomites The Dolomites, the western Alps and the wild Apennines -
UNESCO Italy Sixty World Heritage sites — the largest tally of any country -
Borghi & villages The hill towns that carry I Borghi più belli d'Italia and the Orange Flag -
Spirituality & pilgrimage Rome, Assisi, and the pilgrim roads that connect them -
Thermal baths & wellness Volcanic Italy's other output — hot water, since the Romans -
Sport & the outdoors Dolomiti Superski, the Giro's climbs and Garda's windsurfing -
Shopping & markets Milan's Quadrilatero, Florence's leather and the weekly market habit -
Events & festivals The Palio, Carnevale, the Biennale and an opera season in a Roman arena -
Luxury Italy Portofino, the Costa Smeralda, Capri and the great lake villas