Val Grande description and photos - Italy: Lake Maggiore (Topic)

Val Grande description and photos - Italy: Lake Maggiore. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Val Grande.

Photo and description

The Val Grande Valley is the largest wilderness area in Europe, stretching over an area of 14.598 hectares from the shores of Lake Lago Maggiore to the southern Lepontine Alps. This is a real untouched "island" of mountains and valleys with delightful and breathtaking mysterious landscapes, lost among canyons, steep cliffs and impenetrable forests.

All this "wild" beauty appeared as a result of the fact that in the 1950s and 60s many types of agricultural activities, which were carried out by people over hundreds of previous years in these places, were abandoned. Today the landscapes of Val Grande and its vegetation are distinguished by an extraordinary richness and diversity. The valley of the Pogallo River stands out in this respect, which is the source of the rapid flow of San Bernardino right at the peak of Monte Togano (2301 meters).

Val Grande forests are mainly mixed deciduous and are represented, most often, by chestnut trees. In humid zones, yews grow, and if you go higher into the mountains, you can find black and gray alder, spruce, willow, poplar, Austrian oak, ash and countless beeches. Among the flowers, Alpine catchments, tulips and white rhododendrons stand out for their special beauty. Chamois, deer, roe deer, foxes, badgers, weasels and martens roam the forests, and eagles and owls soar high in the sky.

But the vast region of Val Grande is important not only for its unspoiled nature, but also for its numerous historical monuments associated with the millennial presence of man in these places. Here you can see rock paintings, abandoned huts, cattle tunnels carved into the rocks, man-made terraces, chapels, facilities for transporting wood and cleaning charcoal, defensive structures ("Cadorna Line") and memorial plaques. In addition, in the southern part of the valley is the Candoglio quarry, from which marble was mined for six centuries for the construction of the world-famous Milan Duomo.

Through the territory of Val Grande there are many roads, some of which are accessible to everyone, and the other - only for experienced travelers - Maleco, Rovegro di San Bernardino Verbano, Intragna, Premosello Chiovenda.

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Topic: Val Grande description and photos - Italy: Lake Maggiore.