Italy's Protection of the Environment
At present Italy has five national parks. The first of these, the Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso, extending over 70,000 hectares, was established in 1922, closely followed by that of Abruzzo (40,000 hectares) in 1923. In 1934 and 1935 the parks of Circeo (8,400 hectares) and Stelvio (137,000 hectars) were respectively established; and, finally, in 1968 that of Calabria (18,000 hectares). In addition, the Ministero dell'Agricoltura e Foreste directly manages a certain number of nature reserves of different types, which together total slightly more than 100,000 hectares. Nature parks and protected areas are also controlled by some regional administrations, while there are numerous proposals for a further increase in areas to be protected. Among these, the wetlands are of considerable importance, being largely of hydrogeological and faunal interest and extending for slightly less than 50 000 hectares. Beyond specific environmental and naturalistic aims, the national parks and protected areas are intended to safeguard the typical Italian fauna. The large wild game, which has long been heavily hunted, has almost disappeared: the brown bear only survives in the Trentino and Abruzzo, while the wolf has now retreated to the remotest zones of the centralsouthern Apennines. However, the Mediterranean macchia contains a fair number of wild boar and the national parks offer refuge to ibex, chamois, red deer, etc. Small rodents are still numerous (hare, squirrel and dormouse), as well as other small mammals (fox, wild cat, etc.) and reptiles and birds. Among the birds of prey, the hawk is still quite common but the eagle is increasing in rarity. The variety of fish, both in fresh and salt water, is considerable, although, in both cases, seriously threatened by pollution.