Gran Paradiso National Park

Italy's oldest national park, established in 1922, Gran Paradiso protects the massif centred on the 4,061-metre Gran Paradiso peak—the only entirely Italian four-thousander in the Alps. The park was formerly a royal hunting reserve, and its ibex population—once reduced to fewer than 100 individuals—has recovered to several thousand, making wildlife encounters frequent on alpine trails. Valley bases include Cogne in the Aosta Valley and Ceresole Reale in Piedmont.