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Molina Waterfalls Park, a natural landscape of incomparable beauty!
- Category What to do Lake Garda and Verona
Agriturismo - Where to stay overnight
The Parco delle Cascate di Molina is a protected area included in the larger Regional Park of the Lessini Mountains. The park is located south-east of the village of Molina in the locality of Vaccarole and can only be reached on foot with an easy path that, crossing the medieval village, leads to the entrance to the protected area. The park covers an area of about 80,000 square meters, includes the last stretch of the Molina Valley and the area where it meets the Val Cesara and the Vajo delle Scalucce.
The definitive emergence of the Lessini Mountains occurred during the Tertiary era, about 25-30 million years ago; from that moment the limestone rocks of this area were subjected to the constant action of atmospheric agents which caused, over time, their alteration and fragmentation. The presence of water on the surface and deep in the limestone rocks has given rise to a typical karst landscape also characterized by the unexpected presence of springs and surface waters. The Waterfalls were formed along the watercourses due to the presence of rocks with different erodibility: the impermeable clayey levels of the Biancone limestones prevent the meteoritic waters from filtering into the subsoil, thus originating various springs.
Characteristic shapes linked to the action of the current are furrows, niches and erosion pots visible not only on the current course, but also on the side rock walls, testifying to past paths.
The park also offers the visitor a landscape marked by woods and meadows, frequently interrupted by waterfalls, streams and streams where the sweetness of the green combines with the variety of vegetation and the gray of the rocky spurs.
This landscape is also home to a rich fauna: in addition to foxes, badgers, roe deer, squirrels and dormice, there are birds such as the dipper, the peregrine falcon and the eagle owl; some species of amphibians are protected, such as the Dalmatian frog and the yellow-bellied toad, as well as some rare macro-invertebrates that live in the streams of the park and are important indicators of the purity of the water.
