Parco del Serio, Nature reserve and regional park in Lombardia, Italy
Parco del Serio is a nature reserve and regional park in Lombardy that spreads across two provinces along a river. The landscape shifts between wide braided sections in the north and more winding areas to the south, with woodlands, wetlands, and open spaces in between.
People settled in this region in ancient times, leaving traces from thousands of years ago. The park itself was created in 1985 to protect the area after local authorities developed plans to safeguard the landscape and its nature.
The river's name, Serio, gives the park its name. In the villages along its course, farmhouses were built with river cobbles, and canals diverted the water so that gravelly ground could be farmed. Bastions, moats and towers from older fortifications, at Urgnano, Romano di Lombardia, Morengo and Bariano, were later converted into farm buildings.
The park has multiple access points and offers walking trails of different lengths to suit various experience levels. Visitors find information centers and can arrange guided tours to learn more about the nature and local features along the way.
Palata Menasciutto, between Pianengo and Ricengo, is one of the park's two nature reserves and part of a Natura 2000 special conservation area. Its wet woods and oxbow ponds hold rare plants such as the military orchid and hairy honeysuckle, while coots and moorhens nest in the marsh.
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