The park is located along the banks of the river Ticino, in Lombardy, in the provinces of Milan, Pavia and Varese, in an area of 91,410 hectares (2,2588 acres) between Lake Maggiore and the Po.

[4] Once out of Lake Maggiore, near Sesto Calende, Ticino crosses the entire Lombard plain, digging it deeply and ending, a few kilometers south of Pavia, in the Po, in Ponte della Becca.

Then, from Somma Lombardo to Motta Visconti, he changed his physiognomy: the riverbed widened to cover a width of about three kilometers, forming numerous islands of gravel or sand.

[5] The Ticino Valley contains a composite mosaic of natural environments, represented by the river and an articulated system of lateral wetlands, by arid meadows and heaths, by the largest and best preserved surfaces of the plain forest, as well as traditional agricultural landscapes that represent typical semi-natural ecosystems, among which stand out in particular the paddy fields, of great importance for water birds (nesting and migratory), and water-meadows.The extension and complexity of these ecosystems, unique in the context of general impoverishment that the Po Valley offers today, means that they are not only reservoirs of biodiversity, but also corridors and rest areas to facilitate the dispersion and migration of species, making Ticino the most important ecological corridor between the Alps and the Apennines, essential link of biological connection between continental Europe, the Mediterranean basin and Africa.

These forests constitute the habitat for numerous animal species, now rare and localized in the Lombard Plain; some species have arrived in the Park only recently: the European pine marten, the Black woodpecker and the eurasian Goshawk; others are more known as the Roe deer (reintroduced in 1991[8]) the Red Squirrel, the European Badger, the Lesser and Greater Spotted Woodpecker, the marsh tit, the Eurasian nuthatch and the short-toed treecreeper; among the Amphibians the Agile Frog, the Lataste Frog and the aforementioned Pelobates fuscus.

[10] Although water abounds in many ecosystems of the Park, in other areas it is very scarce; this is what happens, paradoxically, on the river bed (characterized by very draining soils) and (in the northernmost part of the park) in the so-called dry meadows and heaths; these environments are home to sparse woods with Austrian oak, Italian oak, common juniper, as well as a flora of great interest that includes spontaneous orchids, the beautiful spring Pulsatilla, with violet petals, as well as carpets of Breckland thymes, Carthusian Pinks, which in the summer are yellow and purple-pink and are habitats of choice for many species of diurnal butterflies.

This simple data is extremely significant because it helps to understand the enormous impact of agriculture on the landscape, the environment, as well as on the "social" values of the Park, such as culture, history and traditions.

Further south, in the area of the High Plain the characteristic background aspect is linked to the Moorland, a term to be understood in a very broad sense, as there are small woods of Pinus sylvestris.

Are also widespread degradation aspects linked to the presence of invasive and tenacious exotic trees, which colonize the best soils of the area, or represented by grassland, almost pure molinia.

[14] Further downstream, from Turbigo to Pavia and the mouth of the Ticino in the Po, there are the largest and best preserved woods of English oak, Carpinus betulus, Populus and field elm, generally equipped with an original kit of herbaceous and shrubby species.

There are several species of mammals that populate the park, including brown long-eared bats, edible dormouses, squirrels, hares, badgers, foxes, weasels and wild boars.

At least since the time of the Golasecca culture (9th - 4th century BC), Ticino has also been an important trade route linking Lake Maggiore and the Alps to the rest of Italy.