The Tarvisio Forest
One of the largest forest holdings in Italy, owned a thousand years ago by Bavarian bishops. Brown bears, wolves and more than three hundred ibex live here.
- From the housebegins where the village ends
- When to goAll year.
- Area23,300 hectares
- TreesMostly Norway spruce, with some silver fir
Twenty-three thousand three hundred hectares. It is one of the largest forest holdings in Italy, and it is not a fenced park: it begins where the built-up part of Tarvisio ends and climbs to the Austrian and Slovenian borders. It is mostly Norway spruce, with some silver fir, and it looks more like a northern European forest than an Italian wood.
The animals really are there. Brown bears are frequently sighted, there are at least two recently formed wolf packs, and more than three hundred ibex, reintroduced from the late 1970s onwards. Then there are red deer, fallow deer and roe deer, easily seen at dusk along the forest roads.
If you want to see animals, the right hour is not midday: it is the first hour after dawn or the last before dark, standing still and silent along a forest road. By day the forest seems empty. It is not: you are the one making the noise.
The story of who owned it is one of the oddest in Europe. In 1007 the emperor Henry II gave it to the Bishop of Bamberg, in Bavaria. It stayed in the hands of the Bavarian bishops for seven hundred and fifty years, until 1759, when it passed to Maria Theresa of Austria. It became Italian only in 1919, under the Treaty of Saint-Germain. A forest in Friuli that was German and Austrian for eight centuries.
Today it is managed by the Tarvisio biodiversity unit of the Carabinieri, under an agreement with the Ministry of the Interior’s religious buildings fund.
The brown bears are real. It is not a daily danger — they avoid people — but the rules hold: leave no food, never approach a cub, make yourself heard when walking through dense cover. And keep the dog on a lead.
Frequently asked questions
Are there bears in the Tarvisio Forest?
Yes, the presence of the brown bear is documented and sightings are frequent. There are also at least two wolf packs and more than three hundred ibex. Bears avoid people: the rules are to leave no food, never approach a cub and keep your dog on a lead.
How big is the Tarvisio Forest?
Twenty-three thousand three hundred hectares, one of the largest forest holdings in Italy. It stretches from the built-up part of Tarvisio to the Austrian and Slovenian borders.
What time of day can you see animals in the Tarvisio Forest?
In the first hour after dawn and the last before dark, standing still and silent along the forest roads. In the middle of the day the animals are under cover.
We run a holiday flat in Tarvisio, in a well-served, strategic spot in the heart of the village. We know these places because we go to them: the distances, the car parks and the opening times above were all checked at source, one by one.
See the flat