Ideal for excursions and days spent outdoors in Oltrepò Pavese. The tour route passes through cultivated meadows, flower-filled clearings, historical ruins, votive shrines, the little church of the Madonna della Neve, a well-equipped trail with a wide variety of rare butterflies, and a picnic area.
The Valverde Castle Park is a natural area nestled in a scenic forest among meadows, clearings, the medieval ruins of the 12th-century Verde Castle, and a charming little church. Dedicated to Our Lady of the Snows.
The panoramic location offers a view of the peaks of the Pavia Apennines.
The presence of ecotonal surfaces is noteworthy, favoring the settlement of a rich avifauna and insect fauna: the park is an ideal destination for birdwatching and nature photography enthusiasts.
The Butterfly Garden
Located in the Valverde Castle Park, this section was designed in collaboration with the Department of Ecology of the University of Pavia and hosts a wide variety of rare butterflies and native nectar-bearing plants.
This garden is unique in Lombardy for its exceptional variety of butterflies, some of which are very rare, such as the “maculina del timo”, and attracts scholars and enthusiasts from all over Europe.
Designed to facilitate observation of butterflies in their natural habitat, the park features a simple, approximately one-kilometer trail through cultivated meadows, flower-filled clearings, sparse bushes, and wooded areas.
The area offers accessible paths for Butterfly Watching, features such as an earth-bottomed pond for butterfly feeding, open areas with native herbaceous and nectar-producing plants, and sunny areas for observing the various stages of the butterfly life cycle.
The visit also allows you to encounter other animals typical of the Lombard Apennines (foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, and many bird species), offering an immersive experience in the area’s biodiversity.
The park is also home to the Oratory of the Madonna della Neve, built by the Malaspina family in the 17th century, and archaeological remains such as a tomb monument from the Iron Age (ca. 5,000 BC).
Also within the Park are a equipped Picnic area and several Panoramic viewpoints.
Free Entry
Butterfly Garden
Location: Valverde
Colli Verdi (Pavia)
Lombardy – Italy
Things to do in the province, nearby, places to visit, animal watching, woods, pine forests, fauna, flora, gardens, botany, natural parks, excursions, landscapes, panoramas, picnic areas, nature itineraries, family activities paths