The Sassi di Roccamalatina Regional Park is located in the Modenese Apennines between the towns of Marano sul Panaro, Guiglia, and Zocca. The biodiversity of flora and fauna that thrive across the Park’s more than 5,000 acres is both extremely interesting and highly varied.
In the heart of this vast area are three sandstone spurs called the “sassi.” In the 7th century, these peaks were apparently used by the Byzantines to defend the Pieve di Trebbio area from the Lombards.
Within the Park, a wide variety of environments co-exist, including ravines, rolling hills, pastures, orchards, vineyards, and forests of chestnuts. More than eighty different species of birds nest here, including the peregrine falcon, and some forty mammal species call the Park home. Among them are wolves, roe deer, fallow deer, badgers, foxes, martens, and porcupines.
If you’re a nature-lover, this perfect ecosystem, which is protected by the European Union, is the ideal place to get lost: Twelve itineraries and more than 100 kilometers of hiking, horseback, and biking paths await.
Visiting the Park takes time, and we recommend discovering it a little at a time. Take a few minutes to decide what you’d most like to see and then, if time permits, plan to come back more than once.
