Il Path of the Parks will be ready in 2033, but trekking enthusiasts are already looking forward to it. Because the dreamy and ambitious project is really a unicum. And she even noticed it there with the BBC. "The country that created the Slow Food movement is now promoting slow travel with an ambitious project, which will connect all 25 national parks Italian”Wrote the famous British newspaper.
What is the Path of the Parks
It will be almost long 8.000 kilometers, the Path of the Parks. And it will cross the entire peninsula from north to south, connecting the 25 national parks that our country boasts. Those who choose to follow it will receive a special passport, with as many stamps as there are parks he will visit. As stated by the Minister of the Environment Sergio Costa, the journey demonstrates how much Italy is attentive - now more than ever - to tourism sustainability and the protection of biodiversity. Especially now, when the pandemic has upset habits and the need for a new way of traveling is increasingly evident. And more and more nature-oriented. So here, the Path of the Parks, nature celebrates it. And it will allow Italian and foreign trekkers to explore the lesser known corners of the country (from the cork forests of Sardinia to the hermitages of Emilia Romagna and Tuscany).
The investment, of 35 million euros, will be used to redevelop and expand the existing one Path Italy. Which, created in 1983 by a group of hikers and currently 1.000 kilometers long, has been owned by the CAI (Italian Alpine Club) since 1990. Identified by a white and red signs with the initials "YES", over the years it has been modified: some sections have been "lost", others privatized. Today, however, it is ready to become part of the Path of the Parks. "We have a dream, that of unite the whole of Italy in a big embrace, through the walking tour of the extraordinary territories that our country is able to offer as soon as you leave the paved road”Said Vincenzo Torti, president of the association. “It will be a hiking trail, a backpacking trek, that it will not touch the mountain tops, but the heart and soul of our Italy".
The praise of the BBC
What the BBC praises about the Italian Parks Trail is the variety of places that can be discovered. Walking along it you will touch the ancient cork forests of the Sardinia, you travel among the Apennines, you try to spot bears and foxes in the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise. And then the hermitages hidden among the beech trees of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna or the ibex that, from the snow-capped peaks, look out over the alpine lakes of the Gran Paradiso National Park.
"So far there has never been a national body or a study on the care and planning of the Italian hiking trail network”Explained Antonio Montani, CAI vice president. "The work has always been done by volunteers who take care of their land for free or with occasional funds, without a general vision". Now everything will change, slow tourism will have its revenge. And, the lesser known Italy, will reveal its beauty to the world.
