Basilicata & Calabria: Parco Nazionale del Pollino

The Environment

This prevalently mountainous territory is composed of three main mountain ranges from the Ionian to the Tyrrhenian Sea, reaching their highest altitudes in the southern Appennines.

The Pollino Massif has the highest peaks in the Park: Serra Dolcedorme (2267 m), Mount Pollino (2248 m), Serra del Prete (2181 m), Serra delle Ciavole (2147 m) and Serra di Crispo (2053 m). These two ranges, at an altitude of almost 2000 meters, open onto the Grande Porta (Great Gateway) leading to the Piani di Pollino (Pollino Plateaux) the best-known and picturesque high altitude plateau skirted by ridges where the oldest specimen of cuirassed pine stand out , overlooking a territory crossed by many rivers and streams -Raganello, Frido, Peschiera, Sarmento- whose waters rush into very narrow gorges with lofty cliffs, winding their way onwards from eddies to waterfalls, through woods with centuries-old trees, becoming wider as they flow into stone-strewn white river beds. The Piano di Campotenese at a lower altitude separates the Pollino Massif from the Orsomarso Mountains rising with their lush vegetation in the southwestern part of the Park not far from the Tyrrhenian : the Cozzo del Pellegrino (1987 m ), La Mula (1935 m), La Montea (1825 m), Mount La Caccia ( 1744) and Mount Palanuda (1632) dominate a landscape of untouched beauty. Here valleys furrowed by uncontaminated watercourses (Argentino, Abatemarco, Lao, Rosa) flow between cliffs and down cascades, creating an utterly fascinating landscape.

The spectacular monolyths and rock formations like Pietra Campanara, Pietra Portusata and Tavola dei Briganti highlight the magnificence of one of the most striking natural scenarios in Southern Italy. In the northern part of the Park rises in complete isolation Mount Alpi ( 1900 m) whose unique geological origin differs from that of the Pollino Massif and Orsomarso Mountains. Farther to the west stands Mount La Spina.

The rocks that make up the territory are dolomitic limestone of sedimentary origin which 200 million years ago in the Triassic Era constituted the seafloor of the Tethys, that is the sea which separated the two great primordial continents that were to become the African and the European plates. Signs of submarine volcanic activity in the Tertiary Period during the Mesozoic Era may still be observed in the volcanic rocks of Timpa delle Murge and Timpa di Pietrassasso, in the area of Terranova di Pollino - places that are part of a rare and striking geological garden with pillow lava and greenish ophiolite rocks cropping up here and there that cooled down and solidified on contact with water.

Successively, during the compression of Tethys, the European and African continental plates moved closer together, causing the corrugation of the territory and the very slow formation of the mountain ranges. Five million years later, movements in the opposite direction of distension led to fractures in the emerged rocks known as faults, an example of which is in the southern wall of Timpa Falconara. After that, the collapse of huge boulders caused great rift valleys of which the Valle del Mercure, once covered by a large lake, is a clear example.

Other natural events have contributed to characterising the morphology of the Park's territory: among the decisive factors is the erosion of the limestone rocks caused by water that brought about karstic phenomena on the surface such as plateaux and dolinas, as well as underground where tunnels and deep gulfs wind for kilometers deep through the rock, creating a wealth of subterranean formations such as caves and pots like Grotta di Piezze “ i trende ” near Rotonda, the Grotta di San Paolo in the vicinity of Morano Calabro and the Abisso del Bifurto at Cerchiara di Calabria, famous for being 683 meters deep. Water erosion has also cut deep into the rocks of the mountain ranges, creating the spectacular gorges and canyons characterising the most striking places in the Park: The Gole del Lao, Gola della Garavina, the Gola del Barile and the renowned Gole del Raganello at the foot of Mount Civita whose walls are so steep and close together that the light hardly filters through, creating an atmosphere of most suggestive beauty.

The coming of the glaciers during the last Ice Age of Wurm which occurred 100,000 to 12,000 years ago, further eroded the valleys and high altitude plateaux, thereby defining the morphology of the peaks. The many formations from the Ice Age demonstrate how the territory evolved: the accumulation of huge masses of ice resulted in cirques that may be observed on the northern side of Mount Pollino, Serra del Prete or Serra Dolcedorme, in the hollow of Fossa del Lupo and on the southern side of Mt. Mula where morainic till was left behind by the slow withdrawal of the glaciers that transported stones and debris. In some cases, huge masses of accumulation materials came together, forming small morainic hills; in other cases, the withdrawal of the glaciers left behind huge isolated masses known as erratic boulders - splendid examples of which can be observed in the area of Piano di Acquafredda and of the Piani di Pollino.

Noteworthy paleonthological remains are also to be found in the Park: in the limestone rocks, fossils of rudistids - molluscs that lived in the seafloor of the Tethys and disappeared 65 million years ago - can be seen.

In 1979, a very well-preserved skeleton of a large example of Elphas antiquus italicus was found in the Valle del Mercure.
This was a 4 metre-tall pachyderm that lived between 700,000 and 400,000 years ago and was found on the banks of the lake which covered the whole valley when the area was affected by the subtropical climate as the glaciers retreated.

Courtesy of Parco Nazionale del Pollino

Basilicata & Calabria travel
Pollino National Park

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The Environment

Basilicata & Calabria travel Pollino National Park

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The Environment

Basilicata & Calabria travel
Pollino National Park