In the heart of the central Apennines there is an extraordinary species in danger of disappearing forever. It is the Marsican brown bear, a unique subspecies in the world and present with a population of only 50-60 individuals, threatened by poaching, poisoning, road investments and habitat fragmentation. On average, two bears die each year in the Apennines - a terrifyingly high number for such a small population, endemic to a territory that could potentially host more than 200. Recent studies of the Marsican brown bear genome reveal an extraordinary story. Adaptation to the Apennine environment has caused it to evolve a reduced aggressiveness on the one hand, and a diet that is about 80 percent plant-based on the other. But isolation in the central Apennines, which has lasted for about 2,000 years, and high mortality due to human causes underlie the low genetic diversity and high risk of extinction of this unique population. The Marsican brown bear, which lives in the mountainous areas between Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, still encounters many dangers, such as the widespread presence of human activities and infrastructure (especially roads and highways), which not only pose a real risk to its survival, but also fragment its habitat and make its natural movements difficult, decreasing the chances of the population expanding into new areas. WWF Italy has been on the front line for years to save this population, encouraging its numerical increase and expansion in the Apennines and improving its coexistence with humans thanks to the Bear 2x50 project, which has the ambitious goal of reaching the minimum viable number of 100 Marsican bears by 2050, intervening on the main threats.