They do not waver on peaks reached or on virtuous paths. The Black flags assigned by Legambiente in the report Carovana delle Alpi 2025 Instead, they report the most critical cases of unsustainable management throughout the Alpine arc. Nine in total – eight in Italy and one in Austria – They represent as many symbols of conflict between economic interests and protection of natural heritage.
The expense is a fragile and precious territory, where tourist pressure, the exploitation of resources and climate change intertwine in an increasingly evident way. “Our peninsula holds a unique and strategic environmental heritage with respect to the ongoing climatic crisis,” he recalled in a note Giorgio Gampettigeneral manager of Legambiente. A heritage that today is threatened by myopian choices and interventions that ignore the urgency of a true ecological transition.
Italian cases: between artificial snow, ski systems and elite tourism
In 2025, Friuli-Venezia Giulia is the region with multiple black flags assigned by Legambiente: three in total. The criticisms concern distinct interventions for impact and planning deficiency. THE’Regional Department of Agri -Food, Forestry and fish resources receives the black flag for the failure to plan regional roadswhich has led to the construction of new fragile mountain habitat roads. The Friulian plain reclamation consortium has been sanctioned for the‘approval of the conduct between the Sade channel and the Ledra-Tagliamento derivative system without an adequate evaluation of less impactful alternatives. Finally, the City Council of Trieste is criticized for supporting and financed the Project of the Port -Squar cabinette of the Karstwhich threatens protected areas.
In Piedmontthe black flag is assigned to Municipality of Groscavalloin the Turinese, for the insistence in wanting to build a new way to a mountain pasture abandoned located in an area at hydrogeological risk and high landscape value.
There Valle d’Aosta is under accusation for the approach of Regional Committee for Hunting Management: the entity was sanctioned for the management of fox huntingdefined as “by Far West” and judged harmful for ecosystem balances.
The Trentino He receives the black flag for a project judged in clear contrast with the natural vocation of the territory: the ASUC of Fisto, in the municipality of Pinzolo, together with the commission for the protection of the landscape of the autonomous province of Trento, has The construction of an Après-Ski Bar close to the Adamello Brenta park authorizedin a sensitive area from an environmental point of view.
In South Tyrolthe report concerns the Municipality of Predoifor his persistent opposition to the institution of the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina Natural Park and the Natura 2000 areas connected, hindering an important initiative for environmental protection.
In Venetothe black flag goes to the municipality of Cortina d’Ampezzo, for the Realization of the Apollonio -Socrepes cable caran infrastructure with a high environmental impact in the heart of the Dolomites, which also raises doubts about its consistency with the management of a UNESCO heritage area.
Austria and the final assault on glaciers
Also across the border Legambiente assigns a black flag, addressed to the Austrian skiing industry for the continuous expansion of the plants in the Eastern Alps. In the sights, the projects in Tyrol who aim to exploit the last remaining glacial areas, ignoring climatic alarms and international recommendations – such as those of the UN, which has proclaimed the 2025 international year of glaciers. A model now overcome, which sacrifices extremely vulnerable ecosystems in the name of unsustainable tourism development.
An appeal
As the general manager of Legambiente reiterates Giorgio Gampettiit is urgent “do not leave local communities only” and create the conditions for an integrated and far -sighted mountain governance. We need a structural reform of territorial management, which provides tools, resources and rules capable of dealing with the transformations taking place.
