Italian regions by protected land: the two on top

Campania and Abruzzo hold the largest shares of Italy's protected land, 11% and 9.6% of a national total of 3,175,554 ha² in 843² areas on ISPRA's 2024 figures, and no other region's share is in the sources we can verify, so this is a ranking with two names.

The criterion: hectares in the official register

A region ranks here on its share of the 3,175,554 ha² of land inside officially protected areas, as counted by ISPRA on the national register, the EUAP. What a region feels like, how green it looks from a train, or how many parks it advertises doesn't enter.

The measure is each region's share of the national protected total, which is what ISPRA publishes. It isn't the share of each region's own land that's protected, a different and more useful number that we don't have.

The two regions ISPRA names

Eleven percent of the national total is a little under 350,000 ha, and 9.6% a little over 300,000 ha, by our arithmetic. Together the two regions hold a fifth of Italy's protected land.

Why Campania and Abruzzo come first

Campania's share rests on one very large park: the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni covers 178,172 ha⁷ on the environment ministry's figures, the largest national park by that measure. Vesuvio adds a second national park, much smaller.

Abruzzo counts three national parks by their main seat. The Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga alone covers 150,000 ha⁸, though across three regions, Abruzzo, Lazio and Marche, so not all of it is Abruzzo's. The Majella and the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise park complete the set. For each park by region, see national parks by surface.

The national total: 843 areas on 3,175,554 ha

ISPRA's 2024 count gives 843² protected areas on land, covering 3,175,554 ha², roughly 10.5%² of the national territory.

Regional reserves are the most numerous by far, but national parks, only 26 of the 843², carry most of the surface.

The 2026 register moved the baseline

The seventh update of the official register of protected areas, approved by ministerial decree on July 29, 2026, lists 1,048⁴ protected areas: 3,356,239.55 ha⁴ on land, 2,868,914.05 ha⁴ at sea and 3,456.97 km⁴ of coastline.

That's more areas and more land than the ISPRA base the regional shares were calculated on. The 11% and the 9.6% belong to the older count, and when ISPRA recalculates on the 2026 register, the order may change.

What counts as protected, by law

Framework law 394⁵ of 1991 sorts Italy's protected natural areas into six categories: national parks; regional and interregional parks; nature reserves; wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention; other protected natural areas, such as NGO oases and suburban parks, public or private; and areas identified for future protection on land and at sea.

The breadth of that last group is why counts differ between sources. The full regional table, with every region's protected hectares, is not in our verified sources, and it's the first number we've asked to add. For marine protection, see marine protected areas.

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