Avventura Parco – Franco Tassi

Format: 17×24 cm

256 pages with over 200 images

The result of a long four-handed work, Avventura Parco is the story and reconstruction of the 33 years – from 1969 to 2002 – in which Franco Tassi was Director of the Abruzzo National Park, a park that seemed lost, forgotten and besieged by building speculation, logging and poaching became an example of ecological struggle on the Nature Front, and a successful model, admired and imitated around the world.

Francesco Mossolin, under the supervision of Franco Tassi, carried out an in-depth research, studying and selecting all the historical documents from the archives of the Parks Committee, in order to faithfully and in detail reconstruct the chronicles of that Golden Period.

The history of this Natural Park is nothing short of extraordinary: established in 1922 to protect the Marsican brown bear and the Abruzzo chamois, with the arrival at the direction of Franco Tassi he managed to save the wolf too, to bring back to the Apennines, Deer and Roe Deer, to rediscover the Apennine Lynx and to protect the marvelous ancient forests.

Not only that, many small mountain villages, now almost depopulated, were saved from abandonment and transformed into pulsating centers of new cultural, socio-economic and ecological life, the fulcrum of modern nature tourism. Thus demonstrating, unequivocally, that the Conservation of Nature does not bring only constraints and sacrifices, but also work, well-being and civilization.

At the beginning of the Third Millennium, that beautiful dream of Life in harmony with Nature, suddenly stopped: Franco Tassi was removed in a completely illicit way by the Park Management. The many whys of this wicked decision have never really been told, but in Adventure Park the truth will finally be revealed and we will know what really happened.

Today, the true story of this “Impossible Mission” is told here, with the hope that the extraordinary innovative ideas of the Abruzzo National Park in the Golden Years will still continue to spread, with the heart, inspiration and strength that only Nature can give, to those who come later … For his invaluable contribution to the Conservation of Nature, Franco Tassi is considered the true “Father of the Italian Parks system”.

«Avventura Parco is a book of extraordinary importance for at least 3 reasons: it accurately tells the story 1) by Franco Tassi; 2) of the Abruzzo National Park; 3) of the Italian conservation movement, which for years has fought for the defense and protection of Nature in Italy. “
Franco Pedrotti

THE AUTHOR

Franco Tassi, Professor of ecology, scholar, researcher, naturalist-manager and journalist-writer, he is an environmentalist known in Italy and abroad for his historic battles in defense of Nature. He is currently in charge of the International Parks Center – coordinating body of many active groups following the National Parks Committee, winner of the epic “10% challenge” to protect at least one tenth of the “Bel Paese” -, and of the Apennine Ecological Studies Center, which was the first to promote modern research on “large fauna”, and launched the Biodiversity Project.

Franco Tassi worked for 33 years on the “Nature Front” as Director Superintendent of the oldest, most important and famous protected area in Italy: the Abruzzo National Park. In this Park, besieged by all kinds of threats, it has expanded the protection of the territory, taking it from 30 thousand to 50 thousand hectares, with a contiguous Protection Band of 120 thousand hectares; it applied Zoning for the first time, stopped building speculation and strictly regulated forest cuts, launching Operation Big Tree, and saving over 10 million large trees from felling; it has promoted an advanced ecotourism, in full respect of local customs and traditions.

It has also created numerous Visitor Centers and Wildlife Areas, promoting youth employment and volunteering from all backgrounds; has organized events of international importance.

In the field of fauna protection, he has saved the Marsican bear, the Apennine wolf and the Abruzzo chamois from extinction, successfully reintroducing it also in the Maiella and Gran Sasso National Parks; it has reconstituted the presence of red deer and roe deer, favoring their diffusion in the Apennines; discovered the existence of the mysterious Apennine Lynx; has encouraged in every way, in Italy and abroad, the true Conservation of Nature.

With a clear direction towards this “mission”, and through innovative strategies, he transformed the Park into a precious “example-pilot”: the true reference model that made possible the growth of Parks in every part of Italy, creating, said by international observers, “the impossible mission: to ensure the best conservation of the ecosystem, while also promoting the well-being of local communities”.