Discover the best skies in Italy for watching “shooting stars”

August, the month of holidays, sun, mountains, sea and… shooting stars! Here are the darkest skies in Italy to observe the celestial vault

Yes, we all know that around August 10, for San Lorenzo, the Perseid meteor activity is concentrated; The best days to observe it are always August 11-12 or 12-13 (this varies depending on the year). But in any case, even on the tenth day, which this year falls on a Saturday, it is possible to observe by observing a fair number of meteors.

But where can you monitor? How? At what time?

The condition is always a sky as dark as possible: the less light pollution around us the better we can see the faintest meteors, so it is necessary to leave cities and urban centers to move at least to the countryside or hills/mountains, away from artificial lights. However, there are places in Italy And more where the sky appears in all its beauty because it is far from sources of light pollution; although there is no sky unpolluted by artificial lights in our country, there are many places where it is possible You can still be amazed by the beauty of the summer Milky Way: these places are clearly an excellent paradise from which to observe the San Lorenzo meteors.

Let’s see the most important ones, starting with Northern Italy.

The Po Valley is not one of those areas where the light floods all over the cities; devoid of natural barriers that could somehow “protect” the light, light pollution travels hundreds of kilometers horizontally, making the Po Valley one of the places with the worst skies; so you have to go up into the mountains. The entire Alpine range, except for the main valleys where we find the largest urban agglomerations, is an excellent place for observation. The Stelvio National Park has exceptional skies (map color: blue, see meaning of colors below), as does part of the Alps on the border with France. In Emilia-Romagna, dark skies are found in the Apennines in the provinces of Piacenza and Parma, on the border with Liguria: the Zuffalo Pass (in the area of ​​Santo Stefano d’Aveto), Monte Majorasca, and the lakes of the Parco di Cento area (map color: dark green). Moving towards the Adriatic Sea, another dark sky is that of the Foreste Casentinesi Park near Forlì (map color: dark green).

Let’s move to central Italy.

Tuscany is the queen of dark skies in the Italian peninsula: the whole Maremma region has a spectacular sky and in the vicinity of Manciano we can find the darkest sky (map color, dark green, almost blue). Tuscany is associated with the Sibillini Mountains National Park and the Gran Sasso (Marche and Umbria) where Furca Cannabis is certainly one of the most famous places. Central Italy still has excellent dark night skies in the Abruzzo National Park, all in the dark green of the map.

Southern Italy and the Islands

And of course the Gargano National Park in Puglia, the Cilento region in Campania and the Pollino National Park in Basilicata. Going down towards Calabria we find excellent skies in the Sila National Park and in Aspromonte. Again, all these areas are coloured in the dark green map.

In Sicily, the Nebrodi Park offers the best sky on the island (dark green) while on the Sardinian front, the highest sky (and here we have the record in Italy!) is in the National Park of the Gulf of Orosei and Gennargentu (south of Nuoro) with some areas between Nuoro and Olbia where the map colour is blue. Special mention to the Asinara Park, also here in the blue of the map, one of the darkest places of all in our country and whose south (where the Milky Way is most beautiful) is severely punished by the lights of Stintino and Porto Torres.

All measurements of dark areas in Italy are available for consultation. This link is for a light pollution map.To read the map, some colors are used that express the amount of light pollution spread in the area, and these are the same colors that you find spread throughout the article.

Let’s see the map colors in detail:

• White, purple, red: Very poor skies, typical of cities (large and small) and nearby suburbs. This is clearly not a good sky for meteor observation (but any observation in general). Few stars are visible to the naked eye, and the Milky Way is completely invisible.
• Yellow: The minimum acceptable sky for observing without having to go too far from cities. The Milky Way can be seen with great difficulty and only at the zenith.
• Light green, dark green: These are usually mountainous areas about 60-80 km or more away from cities. These are obviously ideal skies for observing: the Milky Way is clearly visible all over the sky, and you can see the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye. If we could travel to these areas within an hour or two of driving, we would be rewarded with a sea of ​​stars (and even a faint meteor) above us.
• Light blue and blue: As mentioned, these places are only found in some areas of the Alps (you need to check the accessibility of these areas!) and in Sardinia. The Milky Way is bright and carved across the sky, and the Andromeda Galaxy is clearly visible to the naked eye.
• Dark blue, grey and black: there is no accessible sky in these colours in Italy; the only grey area is the island of Montecristo. Clearly, these are the best skies of all.

Now that we have a clear idea of ​​where we need to go, let’s talk about how and when to monitor.

Once you’ve positioned yourself under the best dark sky possible based on where you live (and how far you decide to drive), the best option is to lie down on the ground and look up to enjoy the show. Meteors are observed with the naked eye, without the need for any optical instrument. If you bring binoculars, point them at the Milky Way and you will be amazed at the number of stars your eyes will see.

The best time is after midnight, when the radiant (the point where the meteors come from) is 30 degrees above sea level and will rise higher and higher in the sky as the hours go by. Furthermore, after midnight, half of the Earth finds itself facing the “debris cloud” from which the meteors are formed; therefore, it is from this time that the greatest number of visible meteors are recorded. However, do not despair: if you cannot reach very dark places or if you cannot observe after midnight, try anyway because you will definitely see some meteors.

Good observations everyone! Oh, I forgot… you need clear skies to do the observation…

Article by Marco Bastoni