Italy boasts the beauty of 20 National Parks, but not everyone knows that there are more than a 100 regional ones, distributed on the whole territory. Part of this long list is also the Regional Natural Park of Portofino (Genova), established in 1995.The area counts on an overall 4.600 ha (1.200 protected, 3.400 as surrounding frame), and it extends over the municipalities of Recco, Camogli, Portofino, Santa Margherita Ligure, Rapallo, Zoagli and Chiavari.
The Park also protects a naturalistic and historical-anthropological area: not only the flora and the fauna are protected, but also the cultural history - which has very ancient roots - and the activities tied in with traditional cultivation, such as the chestnuts and olives.
Quite varied biological and environmental systems coexist, characterised by animals and plants that usually live in different contexts. The olive tree grows next to the holm oak, the pine and the chestnut; the spatuliform saxifrage, typical of the Maritime Alps, grows with the endemic ferns, the euphorbia, the strawberry tree and the genista, plants which are typical of the Mediterranean bush.
The geological conformation is also particular, divided between a northern part, of calcareous marlstone, clay and sand, and a southern one, characterised by the 'puddinga', a peculiar conglomerate made up of rounded detritus of flood origin, cemented by a calcareous matrix. In the first grow chestnuts, almond trees, maples and ash trees; the second is dominated by maritime vegetation: heather, strawberry tree, lentisk and myrtle.
The birdlife counts with many species, belonging to bush, glade, wood and pinewood, as well as birds of prey and marine birds; invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians boast some endemic species. Medium sized mammals are represented by foxes, badgers, squirrels, hedgehogs, beech-martens and boars. Also of interest are the depths, especially those of the rocky spur of the Portofino Promontory, which stretches out into the deep sea from the perpendicular coast. Here you also find typical species of the southern Mediterranean: porifers, posidonia, yellow, orange and red horny sea fans, corals.
Natural landing places, the climate and the geomorphologic layout, are particularly favourable and they encouraged human settling ever since the Bronze Age. Also of significance was the founding of the Benedictine Abbey of S.Fruttuoso (X century), which extended its influence on the whole Mediterranean. The monumental complex, recently restored owing to the F.A.I., can be reached both on foot and through the innumerable and panoramic paths that cross the park (the walk that departs form Portofino is splendid), and by boat, from Camogli.
:: TRAVELLING :: UNTOUCHED ::
