It's not quite Yellowstone, but 1346-sq-km Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio is northern Italy's, and the Alps', largest national park, spilling into the next-door region of Lombardy and bordering Switzerland's Parco Nazionale Svizzero.
It's primarily the preserve of walkers who come for the extensive network of well-organised mountain huts and marked trails which, while often challenging, don't require the mountaineering know-how necessary elsewhere in the Dolomites. Stelvio's central massif is guarded over by Monte Cevedale (3769m) and Ortles (3905m), protecting glaciers, forests and numerous wildlife species, not to mention many mountain traditions and histories.
