This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Antola Park is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places where to enjoy breath-taking landscapes, as well as a true repository of environmental and cultural values in Genoa’s hinterland and the Ligurian Apennines.
Easily reachable also from Pavia, this park sits on the borders with Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna.

It engulfs the Scrivia and Trebbia Valleys, with very different geomorphological features, stretching from rocky areas like Savignone, to gentler slopes of limestone in Antola.

This protected area features a great variety of environments: panoramic valleys and peaks, woods, pastures and clearings; sheer rocky slopes, courses and basins rich in water.

Wonderful wild blooms follow each other all the way down to Antola. Over the course of the four seasons, daffodils, wolf’s bane, globeflowers, and laburnum can be seen.
The local fauna is just as variegated, including squirrels, fallow deers, kingfishers, buzzards, salamanders, and many others.

Inside the park, it is possible to do sports and leisure activities, thanks to the thick network of hiking trails (168 miles of trails, mostly endorsed by the Italian Hiking Federation – F.I.E.). Horseback riding, canoeing – along the major waterways of Val Trebbia and Valle Scrivia – climbing and mountaineering – in the area of “Rocche del Reopasso”) – mountain-biking, cycling, paragliding, hang gliding (Monte Maggio), and fishing are also allowed.
Along the whole Antola Ridge, cross-country skiing and mountaineering are possible as well.
In addition, at 4.790 ft meters above sea level, near Casa del Romano, there is the Astronomical Observatory of the Antola Park: a modern telescope, a state-of-the-art planetarium and a multimedia room, which offers plenty of entertainment and instructional events both day and night.

Several ancient buildings are what’s left of the interesting past of these valleys: some castles for instance, including the magnificent “Castello delle Pietra” and “Castello di Senarega” – right there, ancient lords fought repeatedly for controlling the “Salt roads” through the valleys.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)