The reserve is a small strip of the Po Valley that was donated to the University of Pavia in 1967 by Giuseppe Negri, a lumber dealer and a great lover of nature.

[1] The Siro Negri wood was established as a strict Nature Reserve by the Italian State with the Ministerial Decree of 11 December 1973 of the Ministry for Agriculture and Forests.

As a tribute to the donor's intentions, the university works to preserve the forest intact, thus not implementing any management intervention and allowing access only for the purposes of scientific research, education and surveillance.

The reserve is managed by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Pavia (which is based in the Botanical Garden) which, thanks to the funding provided by the Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and Mare has been able to promote scientific research and educational activities and dissemination of its natural heritage.

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.