Italy: No More Hobby Hunting in the Val Grande
From now on, no more shots will be fired in the Val Grande, making way for birds and mammals of all kinds — which, unsurprisingly, have already found new nesting sites.
The Val Grande is a nature park in the northern Italian Alps, close to Switzerland.
When the Val Grande National Park was officially established in 1992, hardly anyone could have anticipated the significant role this natural landscape would soon play in tourism along Lake Maggiore. For it was here, in the hinterland of Piedmont directly on Lake Maggiore, that Italy's largest wilderness reserve was created. Even across the entire Alpine region, the Val Grande is unmatched in size.
With industrialisation came an exodus from the mountain valleys, and alpine farming was already being abandoned in some areas. In the Val Grande, the last alpine pasture was returned to nature in 1969.
In the western part of the park lies its namesake core zone, the difficult-to-access Val Grande, where hobby hunters and anglers are now also no longer welcome. The eastern part consists of the more open Val Pogallo and several adjacent areas.
An enclave of unspoiled nature, an oasis of wild flora and fauna that offers fascination and excitement at every turn.
The Val Grande appears anew as an act of peace, sealed in the context of a permanent conflict between humanity and the environment.
The “new” Val Grande, which for centuries was in private ownership and used as a fishing valley and historic hunting paradise, is now experiencing its “retransformation” for public use.
A gift to the community, which will have the opportunity to enjoy an all-encompassing encounter with biodiversity.
During hunting season, one had to be especially careful at dusk not to be mistaken for game. That is now a thing of the past. Hunting has been banned across the entire area.
