The Capanne di Marcarolo Natural Regional Park (in Italian Parco naturale delle Capanne di Marcarolo) is a natural park in the province of Alessandria (Piedmont, Italy). It gets the name from a small village in the protected area, Capanne di Marcarolo. History Some artificial lakes located in the park as Laghi del Gorzente were built from the end of 19th century in order to provide the city of Genova and its surrounding area with electricity and good quality freshwater. In 1944's spring a group of Italian partisans were surrounded by fascist and nazi troops on Monte Tobbio. After a fight some of them managed to break the blockade while some others were captured, transferred near Benedicta Abbey and executed by firing squads on 7 April 1944. The natural park was established by the l.r. (regional law, in Italian legge regionale) nr. 53 of August the 31st 1979 as modified by the l.r. nr. 13 of January the 23rd 1989. The park area is also included in a SIC (Site of Community Importance) called Capanne di Marcarolo (code: IT1180026). The SIC is larger than the park, and reaches a surface of 9548.78 ha. Geography Situated in the inland of the Italian Riviera not faraway from Genova, the park protects a scenic portion of the Ligurian Apennines. The protected area is administratively part of Piedmont and is located near the border line of the region with Liguria, north of the Apenninic watershed dividing Pianura Padana (tributary of the Adriatic Sea) from the Ligurian Sea drainage basin. It covers over . The park encompasses some tributary valleys of the Po river: part of Lemme valley (east of the park), Gorzente and Piota valleys (centre), a small portion of Stura di Ovada valley (west of the park). Concerned municipalities The natural park is shared among seven different municipalities: Bosio, Casaleggio Boiro, Fraconalto, Lerma, Mornese, Tagliolo Monferrato, Voltaggio. Main summits of the park Among the highest summits located in the park can be cited Monte Pracaban (946 m), Monte delle Figne (1172 m), Monte Taccone (1113 m) and Monte Leco (1072 m), located on its Southern borders of the park, and Monte Tobbio (1092 m), near the centre of the protected area. Geology Park geology is mostly tied to the Gruppo di Voltri. In this area the collision between the African and the Eurasian Plates produced a huge amount of effusive rocks, now mostly represented