Strade del nord.

Posted on by Tra Italia e Finlandia

DSCN7328Man mano che si sale verso il nord Finlandia,  il paesaggio diventa sempre piu’ rarefatto e monotono:  i campi coltivati diminuiscono fortemente,  lasciando il posto alle foreste;  le mucche che spesso si vedono pascolare allegramente lasciano spazio a greggi di renne;  le strade diventano argentei nastri d’asfalto lunghi e diritti;  perfino le case a bordo strada sono via via piu’ rare;  si possono percorrere svariati chilometri senza incontrare un’ abitazione o un centro abitato.

Come potete immaginare,  anche il traffico e’ veramente poco.

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Tutto questo e’ comprensibile se si pensa che in tutta la Finlandia (estesa poco piu’ che l’Italia),  vivono solo 5 milioni e mezzo di persone concentrate maggiormente nel sud del Paese,  per cui nelle zone del nord,  dove il clima e’ piu’ rigido,  la densita’ abitativa cala moltissimo.  Ad esempio nell’estremo nord Lapponia e’ di circa 1,9 abitanti per kmq.

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Northern Routes.

As you travel from south Finland to the north,  the landscape necessarily changes:  it becomes more monotonous as fields leave space to large forests;  freely grazing cows disappear in favour of reindeer herds;  roads become long and straight silver ribbons and even the number of houses gets scantier and scantier.  You can drive for several kilometres without meeting a house along the road or a small town.

Consequently,  traffic is not so heavy,  as you can guess.

This is easy to understand if you think that Finland has a population of 5.5 million in total (mostly concentrated in the southern areas) on a surface of 338,440 km² (slightly larger that Italy).  Because of the harsh climate,  northern regions are scarcely inhabited – roughly 1.9 inhabitants per square kilometre in north Lapland.

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Linked to:  Floral Bliss.  Skywatch Friday.

38 thoughts on “Strade del nord.”

  2. Si…per scrivere sarebbe proprio il massimo! Nel mio piccolo, dalla finestra dello studio vedo il bosco e mi oiace cosi’ tanto. Tra l’altro, in questo momento di pandemia, va giusto bene starsi distanti… Grazie Enza e buona giornata e buona scrittura!

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  9. I like to see the straight and almost empty roads, the forest and the occasional buildings. To learn about the different animals you encounter as you drive further north interests me.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. I love roads through those forests with fall colours. It’s nice the picture of the herd close to the road.
    Does the Sami population live in that Northern part of Finland? Isn’t it? I know about 5500 Sami live there

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  20. You are right, Lapland is the land of Sami people. You can find more info in my blog. For instance my post “Informazioni generali” or “Immagini di Lapponia”. Thanks for stopping by. Have a nice weekend!

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  22. Great photos! It is many years since we drove in Kuusamo, but I still remember the straight roads with deep forests on both sides. You feel quite alone there.

    Liked by 1 person

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