In the heart of the Alps, the Stelvio national park is a treasure chest of unique biodiversity. Through photography, we explore the beauty and value of this precious natural and cultural heritage that we must continue to protect.
The Stelvio national park is one of Italy's oldest natural parks, established in 1935 to protect the many animal and plant species and landscapes it harbours. Located in the heart of the Alps, in the regions of Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige, its variety of scenery and ecosystems is unique. It ranges from the long grassy expanses of mountain farmsteads to the dense trees lining the ridges, from steep rocks cut through by streams to those carved by time, to the harsh, arid terrain that precedes the glaciers, rising high above the snow-white peaks.
With more than 100,000 hectares under protection, the Stelvio national park is home to 1,500 kilometres of trails winding through the Ortles-Cevedale mountain group, offering visitors a chance to discover the natural richness of the protected area. Among vertebrates alone, the park's fauna numbers more than 260 species, from the most iconic — ibex, marmots and eagles, which are present in the park at one of the highest densities in Europe — to stoats, foxes and bearded vultures. The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), in particular, has a success story within the park: after being declared extinct in the Alps at the beginning of the twentieth century, it has now returned to nest in the wild thanks to an international reintroduction project that continues to this day.
Il gipeto è un magnifico rapace che è tornato a nidificare in natura nelle Alpi grazie a un progetto internazionale © IngimageThe protected area lies primarily at high altitude: three quarters of its territory is, in fact, above two thousand metres, creating a perfect high-mountain habitat. Coniferous forests, with the famous Norway spruce, are found at the lower altitudes, giving way to pines and larches on the higher slopes, which in turn yield to snowfields and permanent ice.
We visited the Lombardy section of the park, which extends through the Valfurva valley in Alta Valtellina, above the towns of Bormio and Santa Caterina, as part of a photography trekking weekend organised by the photography agency Pixcube and held under the banner of LifeGate Experience, the project that promotes sustainable tourism activities, in respect of the environment and the people of the places visited.
Thanks to photographic excursions in search of the most typical and spectacular landscapes, we were able to merge the characteristics that this technique shares with life at high altitude. Nature photography, in the end, mirrors the slow, patient pace of the mountains. A rhythm marked by the unperturbed succession of glimpses, movements and sounds of nature. Thus, the coveted changing light over a landscape is in fact a curtain rising on the natural world: in the first light of dawn one witnesses and hears nature awakening, and at sunset the bustle that fills the day begins to fade, giving way to the silence and apparent stillness of nocturnal life.
Throughout the weekend we were accompanied, in addition to a master photographer, by a park guide, who explained and revealed the most curious and representative aspects of the area, leading us along the trails of the excursions within the protected area.
And so, climbing towards Lago delle Rosole, where snow-capped peaks and glaciers are mirrored in the water, we discovered the details and history of the summits, from Gran Zebrù to Punta San Matteo, and curious facts about the local animals and plants — such as the discovery that a plant can be albino, prompted by the sight of a rare rhododendron blooming white instead of pink.
Continuing the walk, one climbs higher, crossing the Tibetan bridges, towards the area of the Forni glacier, the largest valley glacier in Italy — that is, a glacier whose tongue flows into the main valley. This glacier, however, has shrunk and retreated considerably over the decades as a consequence of global warming, reaching an extent of just 11 square kilometres. According to glaciologist Claudio Smiraglia, the Forni glacier no longer exists as such, because since last year it has fragmented into three smaller ones, one valley glacier and two mountain glaciers. Our guide too recalls when, just a little over twenty years ago, the glacier's tongue reached all the way down to the valley, beyond the Forni dam — as testified by the "historic" photographs that fill the wooden walls of the mountain huts we visited.
The path finally leads to the snouts of the glacier, which form small blue caves, crystalline as stained glass. Visiting them during the heat of the day — even at nearly 3,000 metres above sea level — one witnesses its inexorable melting. Making one's way back down towards the valley, the path runs alongside rocks sinuously smoothed by the erosive action of the ice that once covered them, which now appear streaked with a reddish-violet hue, like a memory of what once was.
The aim of this experience, as Pixcube — which collaborates with Federparchi (Federazione italiana dei parchi e delle riserve naturali) in its photographic exploration activities — emphasises, was to "get to know and share this delicate balance and source of immense beauty, which must be respected and protected, including through our photographs." The underlying philosophy is, in fact, that through our images we become ambassadors of the territory. In this spirit, and as the crowning moment of the hiking outings, we spent an evening with extreme alpinist and Himalayan climber Marco Confortola, who was born and lives — working as a mountain guide and in mountain rescue — right among the mountains of Valfurva.
After taking us to the highest summits on the planet with his tales (Confortola has conquered ten of the world's fourteen eight-thousanders), he spoke to us about his love for his own mountains. "Here we truly have everything, we have gold. But sometimes, sadly, we are not capable of appreciating what we have," he said. "The mountain must be cherished, cultivated, preserved. If we have a place this beautiful it is because someone has kept it that way. If we lose the people who do that, we lose the beauty. If we lose the person who mows the meadow, the hut keeper who says good morning to you, we lose everything. That is what real tourism is. A hundred years ago they had already envisioned tourism in a certain way, and then we lost it."
One of the aims of the national park is indeed also to promote a form of sustainable tourism in order to safeguard the local culture, the professions and the activities connected to the territory, and to help them thrive. "If we don't understand the efforts of the farmer, the mountain guide, the alpine dairy farmer, we will disappear. The important thing is to have a great deal of curiosity, and to listen. Because every person has something to give us and teach us. We need to have the good sense to be humble, not to think of ourselves as exceptional. I often compare the mountains and the sea — they are two tremendously powerful forces of nature. You cannot think of challenging them; you must respect them."