Italy and wolves: living with a growing population amid myths and alarmism

The summer of 2026 in Italy witnessed a surge of alarmism surrounding wolves, as sightings and attacks from Puglia to Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, and Lazio dominated public discourse. Recent data from Ispra, the national institute for environmental protection and research, indicates that the country's wolf population has swelled to around 3,500 animals since 2022, with an additional 150 individuals added to the count.

This increase, primarily in the Alpine region, has reignited debates about the species' presence and impact on human communities.

In March, Italy adopted the 2025 EU directive on wolf protection, lowering its status from "highly protected" to "protected." This move has raised concerns among experts regarding the potential consequences of this downgrading. The wolf's adaptability has led to sightings near urban areas becoming less uncommon, with 19 incidents of wolf-human attacks reported between 2017 and 2024, according to Ispra data collected through the Life Wild Wolf project.

Experts agree that wolf attacks on humans remain extremely rare, and there is no significant risk posed by these animals. However, there is a growing concern about the downlisting's potential implications for human-wolf interactions. Luigi Boitani, an emeritus professor at La Sapienza University in Rome, argues that the change merely simplifies bureaucratic procedures, while Piero Genovesi of Ispra emphasizes that the downlisting streamlines the process for regions to manage wolf populations, ultimately allowing for more flexible management of the species' presence in human-dominated landscapes.