Climbing up to an Alpine farm allows us to plunge into extraordinary environments and dreamy landscapes, furthermore, with some luck, we may have chance encounters. Many are the animals that we may observe by looking carefully through tree branches or along slopes: titmice and woodpeckers, squirrels, roe and deer, on cliffs chamois and Alpine ibexes.
The soundtrack is one of the best: wind through the branches of firs and beeches, twitters and, on the background, the sound of brooks and creeks flowing.
Your eyes may feast upon the delicate beauty of asphodels, ferns, lilies or globeflowers. Furthermore, in the pastures the mountain arnica, carlina, gentian, as well as the rarer orchid and pulsatilla may easily be spotted.
Alpine grazing cause an increase of the overall degree of biodiversity and are a decisive factor in the protection of soils from erosion. The richness in flora and the resulting presence of countless species of insects, small mammals and invertebrates ensure the survival of majestic birds of prey and numerous other animals.
It is crucial to know that some animal species now may be observed only in these settings, suffice it to say that the watering holes where grazing heads drink are one of the last habitats of the mountain frog, of the Alpine salamander and of the newt.
The numbers of Alpine game birds have also shrunk lately and they are considered at risk of extinction. The application of traditional upland bee-hiving techniques guarantee the increase and maintenance of open landscapes, favouring the reproduction of mountain pheasants and of rock partridges.