Do you dream of a holiday in the heart of nature, among woodlands, valleys, karst rocks and crystal-clear rivers, with history and local produce thrown in? The Julian Prealps Park is just the place for you. To be discovered, on Sentieri Stagionali.
The waters of the rivers and streams of the Julian Prealps Park are a colour that is almost impossible to describe: somewhere between emerald green and sky blue, they flow over white limestone beds that make everything more brilliant. To appreciate them and be left in wonder, you have to see them for yourself.
In this protected area on the doorstep of the Slovenian border — which was the scene of battles and a witness to History, above all during the First World War — nature reigns supreme, represented by glacial valleys and woodlands, karst rocks and abysses, large mammals such as bears, wolves and lynxes, and small birds such as the rock partridge, symbol of the protected area and a marker of environmental change.
This is why the Julian Prealps are the ideal destination above all for hiking enthusiasts: from trekking to ski mountaineering, from spelaeotourism to cycle tourism (thanks to the important Ciclovia Alpe Adria that passes through the park's municipalities, from Chiusaforte to Venzone), there is simply an embarrassment of choice.
But what should you not miss if you decide to visit the park?
Two trails, thousands of flowers. The park is home to more than 1,200 floral species, all best appreciated during the summer season. The park has laid out two paths: a "short" one of just 1,600 metres on Bila Peč (Monte Canin), which takes visitors through an explosion of colours and scents in 21 stages; and a longer one of around 15 km on Monte Plauris, quite demanding, along which some of the park's rarest species can be admired. Not to be missed: Froelich's gentian!
It is undoubtedly one of the park's most interesting valleys, owing to its unique linguistic and cultural characteristics. One piece of advice we can offer is to listen carefully: Resian, the language of the valley, is not in fact a common Friulian dialect, but a fully-fledged language that has always been influenced by the surrounding territories. The festivals held in the hamlets of Resia are absolutely not to be missed: the Pust (the carnival) and the Kriss di Gniva (the bonfires of Saint John). On both occasions, visitors can admire the dancers of the Resian folk group, the oldest in Italy!
One cannot overlook the park's most mouth-watering autumn festival, dedicated to one of the territory's finest products: the Venzone pumpkin. The celebration is an opportunity to taste pumpkin-based dishes and to visit the village of Venzone, destroyed by the 1976 earthquake and entirely rebuilt through a painstaking cataloguing effort. Absolutely not to be missed: the Museo Tiere Motus.
The Julian Prealps Park still has many more surprises in store. Find out more about the protected area and the activities that take place there by visiting the Sentieri Stagionali website.
Sentieri Stagionali is an initiative created by Snam in collaboration with Federparchi and LifeGate. It was born as part of the broader editorial project Sentieri Sostenibili: a series of volumes that, through the story of the possible integration between infrastructure and territory even within delicate ecosystems such as parks, aims to promote Italy's natural and cultural heritage.