Alta Valsesia Natural Park

The Alta Valsesia Natural Park is the highest in Europe!

Established in 1979, the Alta Valsesia Natural Park is characterized as an Alpine park par excellence. It stretches from Fobello at 880m to Punta Gnifetti at 4554m on Mont Rosa and is therefore the highest protected area in Europe. The Alpine Park is dominated by the presence of the Mont Rose massif and its glaciers which form an extraordinary and suggestive backdrop to excursions particularly in the region of Alagna.

The watershed that seperates Valsesia from the Gressoney Valley and from the Swiss and the Anzasca Valley forms its western and north western borders. In the west the border coincides with the alpine crest of the Mont Rosa massif.

The management is entrusted to the park rangers who act as police officials. Other than surveillance, the park rangers also collaborate in studying the protected area by gathering data, promoting environmental education and directly intervening in the supervision of the flora and fauna.

Alagna Valsesia is without a doubt one of the communes that draws the most interest and is the most visited by a greater influx of tourists and hikers. The Alta Valsesia Natural Park has erected a fully functional visitors center at Alpe Fum Bitz in Alagna at a height of about 1600m.
Other than serving the purpose of a practical information point for visitors, the structure which is open every day during the summer period and on reservation during other periods of the year is also used as an exhibition and information point with regards to the protected area and its management.
In the immediate vicinity of the Visitors Centre, The Alta Valsesia Natural Park has also created a botanical garden on a surface of about half a hectare. Here you can admire the main vegetal species which can be found within the protected area.

The entrance to the Alta Valsesia Natural Park on the side of Alagna is a square called Piazzale dell'Acqua Bianca.
The tarred road that leads to the square is closed to public, but there is a shuttle service that connects Piazzale del Wold at the end of Main road 299 to the entrance of the Park every day during month of July and August.
See here time table for months of May and June