Gargano

Gargano National Park was created in 1991 and protects the promontory that forms the spur of the Italian boot, in Apulia: a limestone massif reaching into the Adriatic that was isolated as an island in the geological past, which explains its singular biota. The park also includes the Tremiti Islands, out at sea, and the great coastal lakes of Lesina and Varano, two of the most extensive lagoons in Italy.

Its forest heart is the Foresta Umbra, whose name refers to the shade produced by a vegetation so dense that it barely lets the light through. It is the largest broadleaf formation in Italy and one of the largest in Europe, with beech, chestnut, marcescent oaks, hornbeam, oak, holm oak, yew, fir, maple and ash. Its scientific interest is high because it is biogeographically isolated from the beech stands of the Apennines and acts as one of the most important refuge areas for the species, with trees reaching 45 metres in height, as well as field maples and yews of exceptional size.

In 2017 two adjoining forest reserves of the Foresta Umbra, Falascone and Pavari-Sfilzi, were added to the transnational serial property of Europe's ancient and primeval beech forests, inscribed on the World Heritage List. The wildlife includes Italian roe deer, wild boar, fallow deer, wildcat, weasel, fox and a woodpecker community, and seabirds breed on the Tremiti. The promontory also carries enormous cultural weight as a pilgrimage destination since the early Middle Ages, with the sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel at Monte Sant'Angelo.