The Pollino National Park is the largest national park in Italy, covers 1960 sq km over the regions of Basilicata and Calabria and has the richest variety of flora and fauna in the South of Italy.The park’s most spectacular areas are Monte Pollino (2248m), Monti di Orsomarso (1987m) and the canyon of the Gorges of Raganello.
The mountains, often snowbound, are blanketed by forests of oak, alder, maple, beech, pine and fir. The park is most famous for the ancient Pino Loricato trees, which can only be found here and in the Balkans. The Highlander of Pollino Park, which stands at an altitude of nearly two thousand meters, is a pino loricato called “ITALUS” in memory of the king of Enotria who ruled this region between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. With its 1,230 years of life is the oldest tree in Europe.
