Parco Nazionale del Gargano

Gargano National Park protects a varied landscape of limestone cliffs, wooded uplands, karst plateaus and coastal wetlands in northern Puglia. The Tremiti Islands add an offshore dimension to its protected territory.

Why it matters

The park brings markedly different habitats into one regional context. Ancient beech woods in the Foresta Umbra include components of the UNESCO World Heritage property of ancient and primeval beech forests, while coastal and wetland environments support different ecological communities.

What to notice

Pale coastal cliffs contrast with the shaded interior woodland. Sinkholes reveal the effects of karst processes, and the lagoons near Lesina and Varano show another relationship between land and sea. Archaeological remains, monasteries and traces of rural work add human history to the natural setting.

Context and history

The national park authority was established in 1995, followed by later boundary adjustments. Protection joined a landscape already shaped by farming, fishing, forestry and settlement, rather than creating an area without a human past.