Established in 1974, the Parco Lombardo del Ticino was the first regional park in Italy. The aim was to safeguard the rivers and the many natural habitats in the Ticino Valley from the increasingly more frequent and invasive encroachment of the industrialisation and urbanisation in the surrounding area.

The park covers over 224,866 acres and is managed by a consortium with forty-seven municipalities and three provinces. As the park contains countryside, farmland and urban areas the consortium has to adapt its methods to provide complete protection for the park. This area is one of the most densely populated in Italy so the main focus is to ensure that the need for environmental protection is compatible with the social and economic needs of the many towns and villages within the park boundaries. The challenge is difficult yet within reach thanks to the consortium’s approach of agreeing to development providing that it is sustainable.