Gran Paradiso: Italy's First National Park, the Silent Kingdom of the Ibex

When people think of Italy's great national parks, their minds often turn to the Apennines or the coastline. Yet the very first one, established at a time when national parks simply didn't exist in Italy, was born among glaciers straddling Valle d'Aosta and Piedmont: the Gran Paradiso National Park. A place that, despite its historic primacy and its 4,061-metre summit — the only peak above four thousand metres entirely within Italian territory — remains off the main Alpine tourist routes, overshadowed in the collective imagination by more famous neighbours like Mont Blanc.

From royal hunting reserve to everyone's heritage

The park's history is inseparable from that of its symbol animal, the Alpine ibex. In 1856 Victor Emmanuel II declared the mountains of Gran Paradiso a Royal Hunting Reserve, a move that effectively saved the species from an extinction that was already very close. In 1919 Victor Emmanuel III declared himself willing to donate the reserve's 2,100 hectares to the Italian State, on condition that a national park be created there. On 3 December 1922 the project became reality: Italy's first national park was born. Over the following twelve years the ibex population grew considerably, and the nineteenth-century royal trails and mule tracks were restored — the very same paths that still guide hikers today.

A vast territory, five valleys, one single breath

Today the park covers around 71,000 hectares (710 km² according to the most recent surveys) spread across thirteen municipalities. On the Aosta Valley side it includes the valleys of Cogne, Rhêmes and Valsavarenche; on the Piedmont side, the Orco and Soana valleys. Each valley has its own character: Cogne, with its Valnontey, is probably the most visited and is home to the Paradisia Alpine Botanical Garden, open in summer during the flowering season; Valsavarenche, with the hamlet of Pont/Le Breuil, is the classic starting point for the ascent to the summit of Gran Paradiso; the Rhêmes valleys and Val Soana, by contrast, remain among the quietest and least-trodden corners of the entire Alpine arc.

Ibex, chamois, and a rare silence

What makes Gran Paradiso special is not just the scenery — alpine lakes, glaciers, larch woods — but the real possibility of observing ibex up close: here, protected for a century, they have lost much of their wariness of humans. Chamois, marmots, golden eagles and bearded vultures complete an ecosystem that has served as a laboratory for Alpine wildlife conservation across all of Europe. Visitor centres scattered throughout the valleys offer maps, information panels and marked trailheads for routes of every difficulty, from easy valley-floor walks to the mountaineering climb to the summit.

Getting there

The park is easily reached from the main cities of northern Italy: from Turin it takes just over an hour by car, while from Milan and Genoa the journey takes a little longer. From the Piedmont side, access is typically via the SP460 through the Orco and Soana valleys; from the Aosta Valley side, you head up the valley towards the turn-offs for Cogne, Valsavarenche or Rhêmes. Since there is no direct railway station in the inner valleys, a car remains the most practical option, although in summer shuttle bus connections to some towns are available.