Parco naturale delle Alpi Marittime

About

The Maritime Alps Natural Park (Italian: Parco naturale delle Alpi Marittime) is a nature reserve in Piedmont, Italy. Originally established in 1980 as the Argentera Natural Park, in an area previously part of a royal hunting reserve established by Victor Emmanuel II in 1857, it assumed its current name and form in 1995, when it was merged with the Palanfrè Woods and Lakes Natural Reserve. Located near the border with France, the park borders the Mercantour National Park.

The park lies entirely within the Province of Cuneo, in the territory of five municipalities, and encompasses the upper Valle Gesso, the Valle Vermenagna and part of the Valle Stura di Demonte, covering the two most prominent massifs of the Maritime Alps, the Argentera and the Gélas. The lowest point of the park is 750 meters above sea level, whereas the highest is the peak of the Argentera, 3,297 meters above sea level. Nearly half of its territory (47 %) is composed of rocky terrain, whereas 22 % is covered by woods, 11 % by shrubs, 17 % by grasslands, and 1 % by glaciers.

The Gélas glaciers are the southernmost glaciers in the Alps; about eighty lakes are located in the territory of the park. The park's fauna also...