Oasi WWF e Riserva Regionale Guardiaregia-Campochiaro

Between Guardiaregia and Campochiaro, the Molise Matese reserve includes canyon gorges, a seasonal waterfall and deep karst shafts. Its beech woods provide habitat for wolves, golden eagles and spectacled salamanders.

Why it matters

The WWF oasis of Guardiaregia-Campochiaro covers 3,135 hectares on the Molise side of the Matese massif and is recognised as a regional nature reserve. Its landscapes include a limestone river gorge, Monte Mutria and a high karst plateau with deep shafts. Wolves, golden eagles and the spectacled salamander, the reserve's symbol, live in this habitat.

What to notice

The Gole del Torrente Quirino form a roughly four-kilometre gorge descending from the edge of Guardiaregia toward the church of Santa Maria ad Nives. The San Nicola waterfall has a series of drops totalling about a hundred metres and is seasonal. Pozzo della Neve and Abisso Cul di Bove are deep shafts on the Montagna di Campochiaro. Beech woods on Monte Mutria (1,823 metres) contain yew and holly, while warmer slopes carry holm oak and strawberry trees. The reserve records golden eagles, lanner falcons, honey buzzards, red kites and around 340 butterfly species.

Context and history

The oasis was instituted in 1997 and later recognised by Regione Molise as a regional nature reserve; Fondazione WWF administers it together with volunteers of WWF Molise and the Cooperativa La Ramegna. The territory falls within the IT222287 Special Area of Conservation and the IT222296 Special Protection Area, so its gorges and woods are also bound by European habitat law: two of its woodland types — gorge forests of lime and maple, and beech woods with yew and holly — are listed as priority habitats of community interest. Guardiaregia and Campochiaro, the two villages that share the reserve, keep their medieval street plans at its threshold, and their history of sheep tracks, charcoal burning and mountain farming shaped open clearings in the reserve. Management has remained focused on nature protection, with limited infrastructure.