Today we have been attracted by the beauties of the Modenese Appennines and, in particular, by the nature which is contained in the Park of Rocca Malatina Rocks. The park is situated a few kilometres away from Guiglia (province of Modena) and you can reach it from Emilia road, driving along the Provincial road 623 of Brasa Pass, that goes as far as the localities Zocca and Castel d’Aiano.

The park contains and protects some extraordinary rocky needles (the “Sassi”), which are situated on the right side of the valley that was hollowed out by the river Panaro. These rocks, silhouetted against a hilly landscape, are characterized by meadows, rows of vines and old chestnut woods.

Some rapacious birds build their nest on these mighty sandstone needles, as the peregrine (falco peregrinus) and some rare species of birds as the woodpecker (tichodroma muraria() winter here as well, in a particular habitat, that unites some peculiarities of the hilly landscape and some typical specificities of the rocky landscape.

Moreover, in this nature reserve you can also find some parishes (Pievi) that are bound to the medieval villages built by the Malatigni family to protect the territory around their feud and that coincides with the territory of the park.

The internal part of the park is the ideal place for walking, for a break in a small restaurant (trattoria) or simply if you want to rest and enjoy the cool in a clearing, breathe some good air and relax.

For any outing or information, you can make reference to the offices of the park, that are: the Park Center “Il Fontanazzo” (the technical and administrative seat of the institution that runs the park), the Visit Centre of Borgo dei Sassi and the Visitors’ Centre in Samone.

These centres can give you all the most useful information about the activities and the meetings in the park, that start in March and go on during summer and autumn (activities as the “Night safari in the Park of Roccamalatina Rocks” or “Those people who … want to experience the Park: You can live in contact with nature both in the evening and in the morning and … you can enjoy the good cooking”, with the possibility to come into contact with the flora and fauna of the place … in the most unexpected hours).

In short, we wish you a good exploration and, above all, a magnificent contact with the nature of this place!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 28th, 2007 at 2:24 pm and is filed under italian culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.