Sila National Park

The Sila National Park is a protected area in the heart of the Sila, extended for 73,695 ha. The park is located in Lorica, but its perimeter involves other three provinces: Catanzaro, Cosenza and Crotone.
Established in 1997 with law n.344, the definitive institution took place by decree of the President of the Republic of November 14, 2002. It preserves one of the most significant biodiversity systems. The symbol of the park is the wolf, a species persecuted for centuries.
The international coordination council of the MAB program, during its 26th session in Jönköping in Sweden, approved the registration of Sila as the 10th Italian biosphere reserve in the world network of UNESCO sites of excellence.
Inside the park there are 3 of the 6 artificial basins present on the Silan plateau and its wooded area is very large, so much so that among the Italian national parks it is the one with the largest percentage of wooded area, about 80 % of the total, consisting mainly of beech and pine forests of the typical Silano pine. The valleys that open along the ridges of the park are wide. Here pastoralism is practiced, with forms of transhumance and pasture that still resist today, and agriculture linked above all to the cultivation of the Sila potato.
There are 3 artificial lakes in the park: Lake Ampollino, Lake Arvo and Lake Ariamacina. There is also a basin, now completely empty, which is the Votturino lake, also present in the territory of the park.
Of note is the ascertained presence of some lakes of the past, extinct thousands of years ago due to forms of erosion of their thresholds.
These lakes are the Mucone, which almost affected the area of ​​the current Cecita lake, and the Trionto lake, located in Difesella di Trionto.
There are different species of animals in the park. Mainly mammals such as roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, wild boar. Then there are the mustelids, such as the otter. Then other mammals such as the wolf, the symbol of the park. Birds and birds of prey. And finally amphibians, reptiles and fish.I have been many times to Sila and I have always enjoyed it so much for the many activities you can practice and also for the fantastic landscape.