Val Grande National Park

The Val Grande is often described as the largest wilderness in Italy, not because it was never used but because it was used hard and then abandoned: alpine pastures were grazed for centuries, the forests were cut heavily for timber in the early twentieth century with cableways and narrow-gauge lines, and the population left. Nothing replaced them. The valleys have no roads, no permanent settlement and no mobile coverage over much of the park, and the woods have grown back over the terraces and huts. Crossing it takes days on unmaintained paths, sleeping in unmanned bivouacs, and route conditions change with rockfall and flood.

History

Shepherds lived in the Val Grande from at least the 13th century and timber was cut here from the 15th, but the last inhabitants left in the mid-1940s. The idea of a national park dates from 1953, and in 1967 the area was made a strict nature reserve (Wikipedia, Val Grande National Park).

What's there

• The abandoned alps - grazing huts and terraces returning to forest.
• The logging remains - traces of cableways and narrow-gauge lines.
• The roadless valleys - no settlement or road access across the interior.
• The bivouac huts - unmanned shelters used for multi-day crossings.

When to go

June to September; snow lies late and paths are unmaintained. Crossings require experience, self-sufficiency and a check on current route conditions before starting.

Things to know

This is genuine wilderness with no supplies, water sources that fail, poor signage and no phone coverage. Paths wash out. It is not a day-visit park.

Nearby

Lake Maggiore lies east; the Ossola valleys run north.

Key facts