Rifugio Val dei Conti
The place
Rifugio Val dei Conti in the Madonie mountains, Petralia Soprana/Isnello area (Palermo, Sicily, Italy), at 571 m elevation, within the Madonie Regional Park (~40,000 ha, one of Sicily's 4 regional parks). Continuous Sicily IT cluster (batches 304-312, Aeolian Islands + Madonie). A CAI refuge or forester's hut ("dei Conti" means "of the Counts", possibly referring to the Ventimiglia family, 14th-century lords of Petralia). Home to the Abies nebrodensis (Nebrodi fir), an endemic species with fewer than 30 individuals left in the world, and to the Fagus sylvatica (beech) of Torino, Madonie, at its southern ecological limit in the EU.
The setting
Madonie Petralia Soprana/Isnello Palermo Sicily 571 m regional park ~40,000 ha one of Sicily's 4 regional parks, continuous cluster batches 304-312, CAI/forester's hut Ventimiglia 14th century, Abies nebrodensis <30 individuals endemic worldwide, Fagus sylvatica southern EU limit.
