Tuscany wilderness

This is Tuscany: even if it can seems exaggerated to speak about wilderness for one of the regions inhabited since the beginning of western civilisation, this tiny part of the world gather together mountains, hills, streams, rivers, lakes, marshes, forests; protected by 2 national parks, 3 regional parks, 18 regional natural reserves, 35 national natural reserves, 5 WWF “oasis”. For this abundancy of natural places, we have to thank all the population who inhabited the region in the centuries, because they were able to live in community with the environment, adapting and taming it, without destroying it.

36000 hectars along the border Toscana/Emilia. Around a core of original forest, which is said to go back to the Roman’s age, and which is close to the public, many easy paths crisscross hills and mountains of dense woods. The forest was originally mantained by the friars at the Monastero di Camaldoli , who - already in the Middle Age - invented a kind of sustainable development: every year, gathered in holy assembly, the friars decided how much – and which ones - of their precious trees to sell as building material (the scaffolding for the Duomo came from this area), and replanted thousands of new trees to replace the cutting, to conserve the forest forever, in the glory of God. The tree which represents this forests is the abete bianco, while the wild cat and the wolf are the most significant mammals.

In the park you find also the source of the Arno, the river of Florence, where you can bath during the hottest days of summer: the whole area, from the Castello di Poppi , to the Castello di Romena to the Verna , and the Piana di Campaldino, is a main background for many episodes of the celebrate Divina Commedia of Dante Alighieri. The whole Appennino is the stage of the return of the wolf (foto di lupo 49,50): hunted until the end of the war, in the seventies this animal became the symbol of the newborn environmental movement in Italy: the then young WWF Italy adopted with the “Operazione San Francesco”the last wolves surviving in some forgotten patches of these mountains (San Francesco traditionally loved all the creatures of God, could speak with animals and in a notorious anecdote talked a wolf out of his bad habits). The public opinion surprisingly reacted enthusiastically to the idea, studies were funded, laws were promulgated to protect this animal, shepherds were reimboursed when the wolves killed some sheeps: in thirty years the population of this mammal bounced back and we number now the wolves in hundreds, spread on the whole Appennino from the Majella massive in the south up to the Appennino Ligure until over the border in the French Alps Maritimes.

Alpi Modenesi (L’Abetone, a ski resort in winter) and Parco dell’Orecchiella are other parks in the area worthy a visit, even if only to track the wolf following his scats...

A totally different environment in the Uccellina Regional Natural Park: a former area of badlands subject to malary for hundreds of years, only in part reclaimed since the Medici through the Aubsburg-Lorena and then under the Fascism, never really developed and thanks to it arrived to us in a good environmental shapes, with channels, marshes, dunes, coastal vegetation, plenty of birds especially in winter. This is the southern part of Tuscany, the Maremma, which extends also in a part of the Lazio, with the “bufalo maremmano” (the one of the mozzarella di bufala) as symbol. In the same Maremma you can visit the first Italian WWF Oasis, at Burano, and the other one at Laguna di Orbetello, where you can see also the spectacular flamingos .
This chain of protected areas goes toward north to the Regional Park of Migliarino San Rossore Lago di Massaciuccoli, and it is very important for the migratory birds en route from Africa to North Europe and viceversa. Places where you can see the sandy coast the way it was before it was spoiled by the tourism. Etruscan were the first inhabitants of the Maremma, the inner part is full of remains of this ancient civilisation. The Tuscan coast is also known for more developed areas, with hotels, swimming pools, lots of tourists sunbathing, chaise-longues and so on: but if you go a bit offshore, there is the Parco of Arcipelago Toscano, with the islands of Elba, Giglio, Capraia, Montecristo, Gorgona, Pianosa, Giannutri, connected by a network of ferries from early spring to the beginning of autumn: the realm of the Mediterranean “macchia”, with endemic species of flowers, insects and small amphibians, and, in the sea, dolphins, tunas, sperm whales, and blue whales, this last one represented by a Mediterranean subspecies . It is possible to do whale watching with one of the companies which organise it since some years, especially in the northern part of the “Cetacean Sanctuary”, in the Ligurian Sea (Tethys).

Back to the coast, you find the Alpi Apuane, with peaks touching the 1800 meters, with the marmor caves of Carrara , where Michelangelo used to come to choose the marmor for his masterpieces, but also with green meadows, wild gorges, and mountain landscapes , with raptor birds circling around the peaks: in the Regional Park of Alpi Apuane even the majestic eagle has made a comeback. Most of this places, and many more, where the Tuscan wilderness shows at her best, are an easy drive from Florence, for others you need to plan a couple of days more...

If you are interested in more, first-hand information from someone who has visited all of this places, write to our director, at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it