On Routes 26 and 507 (Cogne valley road), 20 km south of Aosla. The oldest national park in Italy –(http://www.pngp.it) – is geologically part of the Alps, though separated from them by the Dora Baltea river valley. Some 4,000 peaks, numerous glaciers, monolithic outcrops and on the lower slopes flowery meadows, woods and sparkling streams are accessible to hardy walkers. You may see ibexes duelling on a crag or chamois gathered at a salt-lick. Golden eagles and ptarmigan nest on the heights. The flora is rich, with gentians a speciality and the black orchid (it smells like chocolate), hard to find.

In the Gran Paradiso you lose the made world. The scattered habitations are connected by footpaths. Hunting is prohibited but, where the occasional motor road penetrates, poaching is rife and litter abundant. At Colle Nivolet cars race over meadows and motor cycles churn up the slopes.

The painless car route to the park’s confines is from Aosta, up the Cogne valley. From lvrea make for Pont Canavese, where you have a choice of three roads into the park. It is a 40-km hike across the park from end to end and even then you are nowhere near the Gran Paradiso itself, the culmination of peaks at 4,061 m.