Colli Euganei Regional Park

Colli Euganei.

This Park is 18.694 ha² (almost 187  km²) and consists of two types of rocks: sedimentary rocks, that originate from between 160 million up to 30 million years ago, and volcanic rocks, some are as old as 43 million years. It is therefore a fascinating area for geographical research. The Park also is important because of the ancient Neolithic and Paleolithic human artifacts that have been found here, some as old as the 4th millennium BC. However it doesn’t stop here. There are many finds from the Bronze age (2nd millennium BC) and the Romans (2nd century BC) and this area tells the history from the Middle Ages, the 15th (Venetian nobility) and 19th century (Napoleon) all the way up to 1989, when it became a Regional Park. Many of the pre-Roman and Roman finds can be visited in the  National Museum Atestino in Este.

As tempted as we were by the idea of visiting the Museum, being parents of a then one-year-old going for a hike with the baby carrier pack seemed far more pleasant for us as well as for our daughter. Besides, some fresh air would do us good. We parked our car at the visitors center of the park and from there started walking. At first we followed the road that was zigzagging along the countryside. It was a foggy day, but whenever the view was clear it was a gorgeous one! Grape vines and olive trees everywhere, alternated by trees with ripe chestnuts in them. Every now and then we could see a little church or some houses in the distance. Although the road was paved and there could be cars coming along (which they hardly did), it was easy to walk on carrying our daughter, extra diapers, food, clothes etc.

Read more in our blog about this park