Calabria: three national parks, three UNESCO labels

Calabria's three national parks each carry a UNESCO designation: Pollino has been a Global Geopark since 2015, the Sila a Biosphere Reserve since 2014, and the Aspromonte a Global Geopark since 2021.

Sila: 73,695 hectares inside a reserve of 307,294

The Sila national park was established by presidential decree on November 14, 2002 and covers 73,695¹ hectares in 21 comuni: 11 in the province of Cosenza, 6 in Catanzaro and 4 in Crotone. It succeeded the Calabria national park of 1968.

Since 2014 the Sila has also been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, recognized over 307,294² hectares, more than four times the park at its core.

The reserve's core, buffer and transition zones aren't detailed in the UNESCO record, so no zone map is described here. The ministry's area for the park may also differ from the one the park authority publishes.

Aspromonte: 64,541 hectares at the toe of Italy

The Aspromonte has been a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2021, covering 64,541³ hectares at the southern tip of Calabria and coinciding with the Aspromonte national park.

Its rocks are Paleozoic metamorphics formed between 540³ and 250³ million years ago, and the geopark lists marble quarries, river canyons, fossil forests and protected beech woods among its features.

UNESCO counts 256,087³ inhabitants; the Italian geopark commission's page gives more than 273,000³. The park authority's site didn't resolve on September 1, 2026, so the height of Montalto, the top of the range, isn't quoted.

A Greek-speaking mountain

Around 1,000³ people in the Aspromonte still speak Grecanico, on the geopark's UNESCO record. Calabria protects it by regional law 15 of October 30, 2003, together with Arbëreshë and Occitan.

The region runs an institute for each: Bova Marina for the Greek community, San Demetrio Corone for the Arbëreshë, Guardia Piemontese for the Occitans. Which villages fall inside each language area was left to provincial boundaries, so none is named here; the longer account is in three minority languages, one law.

Pollino: the Calabrian side is the larger

Of the Pollino park's 55 comuni, 31 are in the province of Cosenza, so more of its comuni are Calabrian than Lucanian. It was established by presidential decree on November 15, 1993 and has been a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2015.

UNESCO gives it 192,500⁴ hectares and 135,898⁴ inhabitants; the environment ministry's protected-area list still carries an older 171,132⁴. With UNESCO's figure it is the largest national park in Italy, ahead of Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni at 178,172⁴; with the ministry's, it isn't.

More on Calabria

Three pages carry the rest: Calabria, nature and parks in Basilicata for the other side of Pollino, and how busy Calabria gets. The national picture is under national parks.

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