Since 2001 the initiative
for the Apuan Alps recognition as Geopark has started. In 2010, the
application dossier for the admission at the European and Global Geoparks
Network, working under the auspices of Unesco, has been defined. In 2011, in
Langesund (Norway), the admission among the EGN-GGN members
contact us
info@parcapuane.it
Parco Regionale
delle Alpi Apuane via Corrado
Del Greco, 11
55047 Seravezza (Lucca)
phone: +39 0584 758211
fax: +39 0584 758203
The Apuan Alps: a biodiversity
treasure
to be
continued... :-)
The
wetlands of the Park
In the Apuan Alps marsh areas are not so
frequent; this is mainly due to the prevailing calcareous nature of the
substrate, whose high permeability does not allow, for a long time and in
any period of the year, significant stagnation of water on the ground.
However, there are some examples of wetlands in the Apuan Alps,
which today have become very delicate, vegetable entities that retain
considerable and in some cases of great interest geobotany.
The monumental
trees of the Apuan Alps
A very
old beech discovered at Orto di Donna
The visits in an historically lived and studied area as the Apuan Alps can reserve happy surprises.
This is the case of a long-standing and exemplary gigantic
beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), recently found in Orto di Donna
(Minucciano, LU), inside the park, at 1300
meters a.s.l. The "Patriarch" measures
3.11 m in circumference and reaches the height
of 25 m above the ground. The age is not known, but it could
easily exceed two centuries.
The sample of Orto di Donna joins other monumental beeches
of the Apuan Alps, as the Fania of
Camaiore (with 3.8 m in circumference), a task of Camaiore (still
3.8 m) and Sella di Camaiore (3.1 m).
Only
one relict population of silver fir lives in the Apuan Alps. This is located
in the northern part of the mountain range, at about 1500 m above sea level,
on the north side of Mt Contrario. Twenty plants of different ages live here
in bad vegetative conditions. The autocthonicity of this population has been
demonstrated based on several considerations, including bibliographic and
cartographic data, comparative genetic analysis with populations nearby and
several studies about the physiognomy of the silver fir population.
Over recent years the Park has performed a few "in situ" conservation
actions regarding the Apuan Alps silver fir with the aim of preserving a
relict habitat, reported as a priority by Directive 92/43/EEC, under the
name of "Apennine beech forests with Abies nebrodensis and beech forests
with Abies alba". In addition to actions to improve the condition of the
Abies residual core, work has begun on the “ex situ” creation of some new
native abies populations, in order to slow the extinction process of the
local population, which is now so much reduced and has great difficulty in
natural renewing. So new Abies alba populations have been created in some
areas of the Apuan Alps suitable to host these plants and a new conservation
core has recently been installed there too, at the Bosa Park Centre.
"Apuan Alps: the water mountains" by Valter
Torri (trailer) -
(full lenght video,53')
The
wetlands of the Park
A very
old beech discovered at Orto di Donna 
Only
one relict population of silver fir lives in the Apuan Alps. This is located
in the northern part of the mountain range, at about 1500 m above sea level,
on the north side of Mt Contrario. Twenty plants of different ages live here
in bad vegetative conditions. The autocthonicity of this population has been
demonstrated based on several considerations, including bibliographic and
cartographic data, comparative genetic analysis with populations nearby and
several studies about the physiognomy of the silver fir population.
