Gargano National Park

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gargano National Park
Peschici
Peschici
Gargano National Park (Italy)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Coordinates: 41 ° 48 ′ 22 "  N , 15 ° 55 ′ 30"  E
Location: Foggia , Italy
Next city: Foggia , Bari , Manfredonia
Surface: 118,144 ha
Founding: 1991
Address: National park website
i3 i6

The Gargano National Park or Parco nazionale del Gargano is an Italian national park on the Gargano in Apulia ( Italy ). It is known for its old pine forests . It includes the nature reserve Foresta Umbra (Italian for 'dark forest, shady forest'), which is dominated by beech forests . The area of ​​the national park covers an area of ​​almost 120,000 hectares.

Foresta Umbra

The Foresta Umbra forest is divided into four more or less concentric zones: Zone A, Zone B, Zone C and Zone D.

  • Zone D is generally accessible to visitors.
  • Zone C is closed to car traffic, but accessible to pedestrians;
  • Zone B is the actual nature reserve Foresta Umbra , where it is strictly forbidden to disturb or damage the flora and fauna.
  • Zone A, the hard-to-reach heart of the forest, is completely closed to tourists and walkers and serves as a sanctuary for the fauna of the Gargano.

The Foresta Umbra nature reserve is around 400 hectares in size.

Hydrography

The Gargano is poor in surface water; there is only a sparse network of streams for surface drainage. An exception is a small area with a total area of ​​around 11,000 hectares in the north of the peninsula, in which there are a few larger streams. These are tributaries of the lakes Lago di Varano and Lago di Lesina .

In the karst landscape of the Gargano, three quarters of the precipitation seeps away directly. A distinction must be made between two groundwater flows . One runs through the entire headland, while a second system is limited to the area of Vico del Gargano and Ischitella in the north of the peninsula (secondary layer).

In the north-west of the nature park are the two lakes Lago di Lesina and Lago di Varano.

The Lago di Lesina is a lagoon, 24.4 km long and 2.4 km wide and has a circumference of almost 50 km. It is navigable through two canals, the Acquarotta and the Schiapparo . The canals connect the lagoon with the Adriatic Sea , from which the lake is separated by a dune . The lake, which is rich in fish, has brackish water as it is fed with fresh water by torrents from the highlands.

The Lago di Varano , also a lagoon, is the largest lake in southern Italy (60.5 km²). It is separated from the territorial sea by a 10 km long sandy headland. On the headland is a dense forest of pines , eucalyptus trees and mastic bushes . The Varano is also a brackish lake that is fed by many underground freshwater sources, while the channels Foce Varano and Foce Capoiale bring in salt water from the Adriatic. The lake is known for its rich fauna; especially eels and mussels can be found here.

Communities

The places in the area of ​​the Foresta Umbra are:

Web links