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Established in 1980, Rocchetta Tanaro Natural Park is an area of some 296 acres in the province of Asti.
From the park, visitors can enjoy a beautiful sight of the town of Rocchetta Tanaro: such eye-catching treat also includes a corner of the castle of the Marquises Incisa della Rocchetta. The same area of the Park was part of the fief of the Marquises and it is locally known as “I bosch del Marcheis”.

The naturalistic value of the park is undoubtedly represented by the wood: a mixed oak forest in which the predominant species are oaks (Quercus petraea), English oaks ( Quercus robur) and Turkey oaks (Quercus cerris), as well as by their abundant hybrids and natural variations quite difficult to identify and catalogue.

Then, there are chestnut trees (Castanea sativa) and exotic locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia), which were were used as firewood and most of all for vineyard constructions in the past.
Beeches (Fagus sylvatica) represent a residue of the woods spread throughout the area at the end of the last glacial period. Hazelnuts (Corylus avellana), ivy ( Hedera spp.), and honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.) grow in the undergrowth.

“Casa del Parco” (“The House of the Park” – the visitors centre) if fitted with a teaching room and an information office. The professional guides of the local CSPS cooperative offer tours by appointment. There is also an equestrian path, an educational nature path, and the paved cycle track that connects the municipalities of Mombercelli and Rocchetta Tanaro to the eastern stretch of Rio Ronsinaggio: right there, there is a resting area, at the edge of the Park, set up near the “Cana” spring, a ferruginous water source.

The Great Beech

In “Valle del Gelo” there is the Great Beech, also known as “Emilio Beech”: a centuries-old specimen of Fagus sylvatica more than 82-ft high and with a crown diameter of about 65 ft, which grows at an unusual very low altitude in Piedmont (426 ft above sea level). The beech tree represents a residue of the woods spread throughout the area at the end of the last glacial period.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)