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This park covers an area of approximately 227.000 acres, of which almost 50.000 are protected as a Natural Reserve. It houses the entire administrative territory of 47 municipalities located along the Ticino River, between Lake Maggiore and the Po River, in the provinces of Varese, Milan, and Pavia.

The Ticino Valley is mostly found in Swiss territory and partly between Lombardy and Piedmont.
In the portion on Italian soil, is protected as part of the Lombardy Park of the Ticino Valley, and by the Natural Park of the Ticino in Piedmont. In 2002, the whole Ticino Valley was awarded the role of Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) Program. After recent expansions, the Reserve now covers an area of around 370.660 hectares.

The landscape of the park is significantly characterized by the river, its valley, the woods, and the wetlands which truly make it one of its kind. Near the river valley, the landscape of the irrigated plain tells the story of many important works on this territory, with several fountains, large hydraulic systems, the Navigli canals used both for irrigation and industrial purpose, dams, the marshland, typical farms, mills, rice fields, grass or cereal crops, and numberless poplars.

To the north, on the dry plain, there are the moors, the woods, the first morainic hills, and the Maggiore and Comabbio lakes which modify the landscape of the irrigated plain; in the background, the Alpine mountain range and Monte Rosa, in particular, can be seen.

The woods of the Ticino Park

They are the last and most important forest area of the Po River Valley. They cover a total of about 50.000 acres and represent a true territorial excellence. The forests in the area are, in fact, largely degraded and infested by exotic weed, such as black locusts and cherry trees. This was caused mainly by several socio-economic changes of the past, such as the massive industrial growth after the Second World War, as well as intense agricultural exploitation. Finally, poplars were planted wholesale, while intensive cutting and hunting went on for a long time.

The following creation of the great river parks (Ticino, Adda, Lambro, Oglio, Mincio, and Serio)
has partially solved these problems.

Text and photo source:
http://ente.parcoticino.it/il-parco/il-parco-in-cifre/

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)