Rewilding efforts mean nature-based tourism in Italy’s Central Apennine mountains is flourishing. This is good news for wildlife, businesses, and communities.

“The Central Apennines: A Story of Co-existence” – a beautiful short film by award-winning French filmmaker Emmanuel Rondeau – is the fifth episode in the Wilder Europe series. Featuring interviews with a range of passionate and dedicated people, it shows how rewilding efforts in Italy’s Central Apennine mountains are helping communities and wild nature thrive together.

Over 2,000 Mediterranean trout have just been released in a tributary of the Liri River in the Central Apennines. A leap forward in the restoration of this important native species, the release will also benefit a wide range of other wildlife and help to heal this living waterway.

In the Central Apennines rewilding landscape in Italy, innovative artistic initiatives are engaging a broader local audience in critical issues such as wildlife poisoning and human-wildlife coexistence. Changing mindsets and inspiring action will support the scaling up of rewilding and the positive impact it delivers.

Supported by funding from the Open Rivers Programme, the Rewilding Apennines team have overseen the removal of five barriers on the Giovenco River. This is a critical step forward in restoring the natural dynamics of the river system, breathing new life into the landscape and delivering benefits to local communities.

A keystone species in freshwater ecosystems, the white-clawed crayfish is in decline across much of Europe. The opening of a second crayfish breeding centre in Italy’s Central Apennines will enhance reintroduction efforts by the local rewilding team and contribute to the wider restoration of rivers in the landscape.

Supported by Rewilding Europe, nature-based tourism company Wildlife Adventures has grown spectacularly over the last nine years, with burgeoning benefits for nature and communities in Italy’s Central Apennines. Such support can help similar European businesses follow in the company’s footsteps.

Encouraging and enabling people to live alongside bears and other wildlife in the Central Apennines of Italy is critical to the recovery of local nature. By fostering dialogue and collaborative solutions, bear-smart community committees will help to promote such coexistences across the landscape.

In the heart of the Central Apennines rewilding landscape, the residents of Pettorano sul Gizio are benefitting from lives that are increasingly entwined with local nature.

The Rewilding Apennines team have begun operating a supplementary feeding station for griffon vultures in the Monte Velino Nature Reserve. By ensuring a safe supply of food for the birds, the station will support the recovery of the species, and is a step towards realising a landscape where vultures are sustained entirely by the carcasses of wild animals.