The Waterfall Park of Molina is a protected area within the larger Regional Park of the Lessini Mountains. It is located South-East of the village of Molina in the Vaccarole locality and can only be reached on foot by an easy pathway that cuts through the old medieval town and leads to the entrance. The Park covers an area of about 80,000 square meters, including the last stretch of the Molina Valley and its confluence with the Val Cesara and the Vajo delle Scalucce.
The Lessini Mountains plateau is part of the Venetian Pre-Alps. Its main feature is a sloping plateau emerging from the Po plain extending gently northwards reaching an altitude of 1800 meters and then suddenly falling into the Ronchi Valley. The plateau is marked by numerous mountainous elevations and deep valleys.
The Lessini Mountains’ history began about 220 million years ago and tells of a shallow tropical sea that allowed the very slow deposition and sedimentation (organic and chemical) of materials that over millions of years made up the rock formations. The most ancient rock layers, dating back to this period, are Dolomia, Rosso Ammonitico, Biancone (Majolica) and the more recent Scaglia Variegata and Scaglia Rossa.
The definitive emergence of the Lessini Mountains from the seabed occurred during the Tertiary era, about 25 – 30 million years ago; from that moment onwards the limestone rock was subject to the constant action of atmospheric agents which caused, over time, their alteration and fragmentation.
The presence of water on the surface and deep in the limestone rocks has given rise to a typical karst landscape where, unexpectedly, springs and surface water can be found. The waterfalls were formed along the watercourses due to the presence of rocks with different erodibility: the impervious clayey levels of the Biancone limestone prevent rainwater from filtering into the subsoil, thus originating various sources.
Characteristic shapes linked to the action of the current are erosion furrows, niches and potholes visible not only along the current watercourses, but also on the side rock walls, testifying to water flowing in the past.
In the Park visitors will enjoy the variety of the landscape, where streams and waterfalls cut through the woods and meadows and where the grey, jutting outcrops of rocky spurs are surrounded by ever-changing hues of greenery.
This environment is home to a wealth of animals: along with foxes, badgers, roe deer, squirrels and dormice you can find European dippers, Peregrine falcons and Eagle owls. Some of the amphibians present are classified as protected species (the Agile frog and the Yellow-bellied toad) and some of the rare Macroinvertebrates that live in the streams are important indicators of the pureness of the water.