The Giants of the Sila is a majestic woodland whose 350-year-old trees are 45 metres in height and have 2 metres wide trunks. This ancient forest features more than 60 Calabrian pines and sycamores, which were exploited over the centuries by shepherds to extract a flammable resin from the trunks. Due to its great value as a resource, in the 17th and 18th centuries the government of Naples issued numerous edicts to limit the frequent threats to cut the trees down. Recently, in the Second World War, the land was expropriated and then reintegrated into the assets of the Italian Forestry Commission, which – together with the original owners, the Mollo family – promoted the establishment of the Guided Biogenetic Nature Reserve, in order to study, genetically conserving and protecting this immensely valuable historic and natural heritage.
In 2016 the Sila National Park entrusted this location on a loan-for-used basis to FAI, which ensures its opening to the public and is going to restore the ancient Casino Mollo, a future witness of the story of this part of rural Calabria.
FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano
Via Carlo Foldi 2 - 20135 Milano
Phone: +39 02 46 76 15 393
Email: m.pizzorni@fondoambiente.it
