Mount Prinzera Nature Reserve
In the Emiliano-Parmense Apennine, a few kilometers far from the Po Valley and the Mediterranean Sea as well, Mount Prinzera's
ophiolite ridge towers over the Taro and Sporzana valleys and over several clayish, calcareous and sandstone slpes, where oak forests, chestnut and hop hornbeam forests, meadows, shrublands, small valleys, badlands and wetlands alternate. Geographical location, climate factors, rocks and grounds gathered in this limited area (
Site of Community Importance) to create a series of landscapes, biodiversity, ecological phenomena and human testimonies of the Emiliano Apennine, making it a real environmental laboratory. The panoramic ophiolite moors, similar to the high mountain, keep minerals, rocks, water and springs, unique plants - such as the
buckler-mustard on Mount Prinzera - and animals, such as the many butterflies, the Red-legged partridge, the Common rock thrush and birds of prey such as the Short-toed snake eagle.
Mysteries and fascination are recalled by human history, from the Bronze Age to the Middle Age of the European pilgrimage along the Via Francigena on Mount Bardone, from the artifacts of the Napoleon's age to the military mike tracks from the early 1900s.
In March 2010 the new Regulation (Part 1 and Part 2) and the Three-year Program for the Safeguard and Enhancement of the Reserve have been approved through an act of the Provincial Council.