Valpredina

The WWF Nature Reserve Oasis of Valpredina is located entirely in the town of Cenate Sopra in the mountain community of the Bergamo Lakes in the province Bergamo.

Valpredina – the valley of rocks - takes its name from the extraction of "còte ", a hard stone rich in silica used to sharpen cutting tools that was widely used in the past.

The origins of the Natural Reserve of Valpredina can be attributed to Mr. and Mrs. Enzo and Lucia Bardoneschi, who in 1983 donated the entire property to the Italian Association for the World Wildlife Fund for nature - NPO.

The area covers approximately 90 hectares, mainly consisting of mixed forests with rocky and cultivated slopes, and is crossed by the Predina torrent. The forests of the slopes with a southern exposure, with a poor water supply, are inhabited by oaks, flowering ashes and hornbeams.

Black elderberries thrive near the springs and along the bed of the stream, the seeds of which are critical to the diet of the birdlife. About fifty different species of birds inhabit the oasis, which provide the nesting ground for the rare peregrine falcon, the buzzard, the Black Kite and buzzard hawk.

Approximately twenty mammalian species also live here: fox, beech-marten, badger, weasel, squirrel, dormouse, hedgehog, and roe deer. An important CRAS (Wild Animal Rescue Centre) is also operated in Valpredina. Guided tours are available by reservation only.