Nature

Not only barren, arid, sun-baked, all adjectives used by those who do not know it: there is another Sicily to discover! Nebrodi and Madonie are the last offshoots of the Italian continental; all around a ferment of hills that end where the sea begins. Your eyes see only the yellow of the crops and the green vineyards. Bread and wine that this land offers to those who knew how to love her. And if you should wish to explore the parks, reserves and oasis, you’ll find lots of other colors and scents.

“From the time of Proserpina, Sicily has been the house of flowers. It is said that the virgin Goddesses, Proserpina, Minerva and Diana, wove a robe of colorful flowers for her father Jupiter … Now I understand why the gods have so loved Sicily.

What he was written in 1880 by a “Milady in Sicilia”, whose real Frances Elliot.

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The nature It seems to have indulged in Sicily. What strikes largest Mediterranean island is the variety of shapes, colors, scents and sensations that nature here is expressed and manifested: from African beaches on Agrigento’s shoreline to the mountain landscapes of the Nebrodi and Madonie chains; from the gentle hills of the hinterland, very green and dotted with flowers in spring, in summer scorched by the sun and the color of the earth, to blacks and rough landscapes of the highest active volcano in Europe, which in winter turns white snow until almost the slopes. A show without end!

Many nature reserves that are offered to the traveler’s eyes. In the province of Agrigento there is the mouth of the river Platani, 200 hectares of Mediterranean maquis dominated by the magnificent Capo Bianco line. Just steps from the coast facing Africa is located Biviere of Gela, the largest coastal lake of Sicily and one of the main staging areas for migratory birds, for this great place for birdwatching. In the province of Catania, Acireale, it extends for about seven kilometers long ridge lava overlooking the sea, together with the island Lachea, between the stacks of Aci Trezza, tells the story geovulcanica of Sicily. In the heart of the island, between Enna, Piazza Armerina and Aidone, there is the forest of Rossomanno, very impressive from the point of view of landscape and composed of oaks, eucalyptus and pine trees. nature reserves will then extend in almost all the islands that dot the sea of ​​Sicily, even those that are located right behind the beach, such as Isola Bella, Taormina: joined to the mainland by a thin isthmus of gravel and pebbles and mostly traversable on foot except in the high tide.

Characterized by exceptional biodiversity, the natural reserve of Monte Pellegrino majestically overlooking Palermo and ideally closes the valley of gold. Moving instead to Trapani from San Vito lo Capo and Scopello, stretches for seven kilometers an authentic coastal marvel: the Zingaro made of caves and coves where the sea takes on the most amazing colors. Another coastal reserve on the other side of Sicily, in the province of Syracuse, is the natural reserve of Vendicari, one of the most important protected areas of alternating rocky coast, sandy coast, Mediterranean, swamps, salt marshes and cultivated areas. In the province of Ragusa stands out the reserve of the river Irminio, a coastal belt of vegetation, so-called arboreal vegetation, which stretches for a kilometer behind the coastal dunes. They are just a few examples of the dozens of reserves scattered in the nine Sicilian provinces. In particular deserve attention then some natural parks like the natural Etna Park, Nebrodi Park, Natural Park of Madonie, Alcantara Natural Park, The Zingaro nature reserve, the reserve Vendicari.