In 1856, King Victor Emanuel II declared part of the area, which is now the Park, a Royal Hunting Reserve. The ibex was saved from extinction. The King set up a specialized corps of wardens and built paths and mule-tracks, utilized even today. In 1920, King Victor Emanuel III donated the hunting Reserve to the Italian State. On December the 3
rd 1922, the Gran Paradiso National Park was formally instituted. It was the first Italian national park.
The territory of the Park, between Piedmont and Aosta Valley, covering some 173,000 acres, most of which is an alpine land. The mountains were scored and modeled by glaciers and streams creating the existent valleys. The lower reaches of the valleys are copiously wooded with larches, with some spruce and Arolla pine and, more rarely, silver fir. Higher up the slopes, the trees give way to alpine meadows, rich in flowers in late spring. Further up again, rocks and glaciers dominate the landscape.