Cozzo Ferriero and Polinello

This is a wild area without human use on the boundary to Calabria on Jurassic limestone. In the southern Apennines, on the steep and rugged slopes of the 1,920-metre-high Coppola di Paola, interspersed with valleys, grows a rugged, almost pure beech forest with up to 400-year-old beech trees and epiphytes. The unusually dense herb layer is rich in endemic species.

• UNESCO recognition: 2017
• Protected area: Pollino National Park
• Beech forest region: Central Mediterranean
• Area: 95.75 ha, buffer zone 2,851 ha
• Number of component parts: 1
• Altitudinal range: high montane (1,750 – 1,900 m above sea level)
• Fauna: Wolf, European wildcat, Eagle owl, Middle spotted woodpecker, Spectacled salamander, Italian crested newt, Alpine longhorn beetle

Polinello is a part of Pollino National Park, which stretches from 1,620 to 2,267 m above sea level.

The terrain of Pollino is complex, from almost flat to very steep. On the opposite side of the mountain to where Pollino is located, there is Cozzo Ferriero, another component of the UNESCO World Heritage beech forests.

The old-growth beech forests in Polinello are characterised by a very complex structure, devoid of human impacts for at least the past 70 years due to its remote location. They have an uneven-aged structure, with beech trees up to 620 years old – the oldest dated beech trees of Europe – in close proximity of very old (800 - 1,200 years) individuals of Heldreich’s pine. It is a very characteristic example of the association Asyneumato-Fagetum, a high-altitude beech forest community with harebells that are endemic to the Southern Apennines.

• UNESCO recognition: 2021
• Protected area: Pollino National Park
• Beech forest region: Central Mediterranean
• Area: 477.94 ha
• Number of component parts: 1
• Altitudinal range: montane (1,620 - 2,267 m above sea level)
• Fauna: Wolf, Roe deer, European wildcat
• Coordinates of the Central Point: N 39° 53’ 43’’, E 16° 11’ 54’’