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Majestic and imposing, Monte Baldo is among the best known - and most appreciated since antiquity - mountains in the Veneto region for the wealth of history, culture and biodiversity it offers.
Situated between the provinces of Verona and Trento, it opens its panorama to the west over Lake Garda and to the east over the Vallagarina; its highest peak, Cima Valdritta, reaches an altitude of 2,218 metres above sea level.
It is characterised by two key aspects: the karstic landscape and the incredible variety of flora and fauna it hosts, due to the diversity of climates present in the different altitudes and slopes.
Speaking of landscape, the considerable presence of limestone rocks over the entire surface of Monte Baldo gives rise to a large number of karst phenomena: monoliths, basins, caves (the longest is Grotta Tanella, in Torri del Benaco, with a length of 362m, while the deepest is Bus de le Tacole, which goes into the ground up to 172m deep) and dolines - particular depressions in the ground that open up into deeper caves.
Thanks to its wealth of biodiversity, especially in flora, Monte Baldo has long been called the 'Garden of Europe': the different climates to which its slopes are exposed (with the lake on one side and the mountains on the other) and the climatic belts that develop as one rises in altitude have over the centuries allowed for the development of very varied plant species, some even unique in the world.
These bands have been identified and categorised into four designations:
the 'Mediterranean belt', on the slopes of Monte Baldo, which, thanks to its mild climate, is home to a variety of olive and chestnut cultivations, as well as the spontaneous growth of low-stemmed flowers and aromatic Mediterranean plants (such as rosemary and laurel);
the 'mountain belt', with extensive pastures and forests of beech, lime, black hornbeam and silver fir, as well as species such as larch, spruce and sycamore;
the 'boreal belt', with shrubs and flowers typical of the mountain climate, such as mountain pine, alpine juniper, heather, gentian, white crocus and vulneraria;
the 'alpine belt', covering the area above 2,000 metres above sea level, with typical rock vegetation including potentilla, raponzolo and rhododendron.
An enormous peculiarity of Mount Baldo are the endemic flower species that grow exclusively on its summit, from 1,500 metres above sea level upwards: the Baldo sedge, the Baldo anemone and the rare Mount Baldo curd, which can only be seen in the Alpine belt.
In terms of fauna, it is home to a great variety of species, especially as far as invertebrates are concerned: here, too, we find an endemic one, the pine beetle, which only grows between Monte Baldo and the Lombardy Pre-Alps, as well as a lepidoptera fauna that counts no less than 2,085 different identified species.
Monte Baldo is not only a resource from a naturalistic point of view: traces of human presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period have been found, with actual settlements and burials from the Neolithic period and numerous villages from the Bronze Age onwards - as well as traces and clues that have allowed the reconstruction of an ancient passage route from Italy to Austria.
Apart from its history and more 'technical' aspects, Monte Baldo is today appreciated as one of the most beautiful summer hiking destinations, thanks to its well-maintained and easy trails and the magnificent panorama that opens up once you reach the ridge, which is also accessible to families and amateur walkers.
Definitely a place to discover to the full!
