Sandy Beaches to Rocky Cliffs: Circeo National Park View 🏖️

Circeo National Park is an Italian national park established in 1934. It occupies the coastline from Anzio to Terracina and includes the wooded areas of San Felice his Circeo mainland and the island of Zannone.

The park was created by order of Benito Mussolini and on the advice of Senator Raffaele Bastiánelli to preserve the last traces of the Pontino marshes that had been developed during this period. It is the perfect and only national park in Italy that covers only plains and coastal areas. It ranges from Pontinia in the north to Sabaudia in the south.

Territory in Circeo National Park

The park can be separated into five main habitats: Forests, capes, coastal dunes, The Humid areas, and the island of Zannone.

The Forest area

The forest belonging to the park, which occupies an almost square sector between the SS 148 Pontina highway and the seafront of San Felice Circeo, is the last remnant of the so-called ancient “Selva di Terracina”. The central state of Latina today. It is now reduced to the domain of c. With 3,300 hectares, this forest is already the largest flat forest in Italy.

Mediterranean fan palm on the southern slopes of Monte Circeo.

It is characterized by its unique piscinen, transient marshes formed by autumn rainfall, and restores where a small population once settled. The vegetation includes Macchi scrub, continental species such as Turkish oak, Fraxinus, and English oak, and typical Mediterranean trees such as holm oak, laurel, and cork oak.

The undergrowth is also plentiful, with hawthorn, blackthorn, wild apple, pear, strawberry trees, heather, Ruscus aculeus, and many others.

Berry vegetation allows for the presence of abundant fauna such as wild boar, fallow deer, hares, European badgers, red foxes, weasels, green whip snakes, Natrix maura, land, and marsh test does, Triturus newts, toads, and frogs. to

The Promontory

At its maximum height of 541 m, Cape Circeo is a specific island-shaped Mesozoic limestone and dolomite massif that gives the entire park its name.

Grotta dell’ Impiso From a naturalistic point of view, it can be divided into two distinct areas. The northern slopes of the cape have a humid climate, with dense holm oak shrubs on the top and manna donkey, Ostrija carpinifolia, downy and Italian oak at lower elevations.

There are heather, gorse, and strawberry trees in the undergrowth and 25 hectares of cork oak forest where the mountain slopes descend into the plains. The southern slopes have a mild climate and are characterized by Mediterranean rock flora and understory plants including samphire, helichrysum, and Centaurea.

In addition to the European badger, wild boar, and beech marten, the animal world includes many bird species such as peregrine falcons and kestrels.

Among the several coastal caves of naturalistic interest is Grotta Guattari, where a Homo Neanderthal skull was discovered in 1939, Grotta delle Capre, Grotta delle There are Impiso, Grotta del Fosselone, and Grotta Breuil. The latter was also inhabited by Neanderthals.

The littoral dune

The park has 22 kilometers of coastal sandy beaches that stretch from the limestone cliffs of Mount Circeo, corresponding to Torre Paola’s watchtower, to Capo Portiere. Characterized by fine sand, the sand is backed by typical maki scrub with a maximum depth of 27 meters. Sections closer to the ocean have short vegetation that is home to a variety of small wildlife, including European badgers, foxes, lizards, and beetles.

Far from the sea, from large plants such as prickly pear juniper and mastic to true trees such as maritime pines and holm oaks, or alder, Fraxinus, poplar, and willow near lakes. can grow.

The Humid areas

The wetlands of Circeo Park are home to four coastal salt lakes.

The marsh ruins of Paola, Monati, Caproles, Fogliano, and Pontine are now home to large wildlife species of waterfowl (herons, cranes, geese, lapwings, skylarks, curlews) and rare species such as soft-shelled turtles. It has a maximum depth of 2 meters and is connected to the sea by a series of canals.

Other species found in the area include badgers, wild boars, foxes, porcupines, wild weasels, and European hedgehogs. The lakeshore vegetation consists of salicornia, inure, and tamarisk. Besides the lake, there are several small marshes where Italian Mediterranean buffalo graze.

The Zannone

Zanone is a small island in the Pontiano archipelago that was incorporated into the park in 1979. An uninhabited island covered in oak and holm oak forests; it is the only island in the archipelago that retains its original vegetation. The latter include immortelle, euphorbia, mastic, bloom, Myrtus, heather, arbutus, and laurel.