Parco della Maremma

Parco della Maremma covers about 25 kilometers, a total surface area of 9,800 hectares, from Talamone to Principina a Mare, along one of the most beautiful coastal stretches in Tuscany. The environmental variety is extraordinary: from the sea to the hills, from sandy beaches to cliffs, from marshy areas to pine forests, through cultivated fields and pastures.

Established in 1975, the Parco della Maremma was the second regional park in Italy and the seventh in the world to be founded. Since 1992, this park also boasts the Diploma Europe, a recognition of great value that rewards the conservation of protected areas, their biodiversity, landscape and geological diversity.

The territory protected by the park hosts an incredible environmental variety from the area of the Uccellina Mountains, with a luxuriant Mediterranean scrub and sandy stretches to the marshy areas of the Ombrone, where some colonies of marsh and migratory birds live.

Inside, the park is divided into 5 integral reserves: Aree palustri e umide della Trappola e foce dell’Ombrone, Paduletto di Collelungo, Fascia costiera Porto Vecchio – Cala Francese – Cala Rossa, Area boscata Scoglio della Lepre and Area boscata Fosso del Treccione

While four sites of community interest are recognized (SCI): Aree palustri e umide della Trappola e foce dell’Ombrone, Paduletto di Collelungo, Fascia costiera Porto Vecchio – Cala Francese – Cala Rossa, Area boscata Scoglio della Lepre, Area boscata Fosso del Treccione.

Environment
Inside the Park there are several ecosystems that coexist and intertwine, creating a rare environmental balance that survives thanks to the careful conservation and protection of this area.

Pinete:

Traditional environment of the Maremma coast, it is the result of an intense work of forestation carried out in recent centuries. One of the most beautiful examples is the Pineta Granducale, which extends about 600 hectares inside the park, in the Ombrone river area

Wetlands:

In the past, the Maremma was littered with marshes, ponds and swamps. The park oday houses one of the largest marshes in the Maremma, with an area of 700 hectares, in mouth of the Ombrone river. The Marsh of the Trappola is of international importance.

Rivers:

In addition to the main one, the Ombrone, inside the park is a dense network of streams and secondary streams, born following the reclamation of the flat area.

Caves:

There are about 20 caves inside the park, the most important being the Grotta dello Scoglietto, the Grotta delle Caprarecce, the Grotta della Fabbrica and the Grotta dell’Acquazzone.

Coastline:

The coastal area within the park extends for about 25 kilometers, affecting the area from Talamone, in the municipality of Orbetello, to Principina a Mare, in the municipality of Grosseto. This stretch of coast is characterized by a mainly sandy environment and wide dunes, interspersed with small bays and sheer cliffs.

Woods:

It mainly concerns the area of the Uccellina Mountains, a dense forest of Mediterranean scrub and trees covers about 3,000 hectares of hills.

Agricultural area:

The agricultural areas are the most widespread within the park – crops, orchards, olive groves and vineyards and pastures where Mareman cows – a native Maremma breed with typical lyre-shaped horns – graze freely, alternating with thick woods.

Flora
Much of the territory of the park is covered with woods, mainly Lecci, Corbezzolo, Lentisco, Mirto, Fillirea, Erica, Sughera, Roverella, Orniello, Hawthorn, Sorbus, Laurel, Black Hornbeam, Maple tree and Cerro.

In the rocky area of the Park, a special thermophilic scrub of species resistant to drought has developed, in this case Oleastro, Euforbia arborea, Phoenician Juniper and the Nana Palm (extremely rare in the Maremma).

At the dune area, instead, we meet the domestic Pines, the maritime Pines, Ginepri, Ammofila, Medica marina, Camomilla di mare, Giglio di mare, Limonio etrusco and Eringio.

Fauna
Inside the park live some important species, the Wild boar, the Fallow Deer, the Wolf, the Wild Cat, the Porcupine, the Marten, the Fox, the Badger, the Faina, the Hare and the Porcupine. The Vacca Maremmana is a native species of the Maremma and often happens to visible in the large pastures, while it lives freely in its natural environment. The park is also home to 270 species of birds that mainly colonize wetlands, including the Fratino, the Occhione, the marine jay, the osprey, the peregrine falcon, the lodolaio, the kestrel, the marsh harrier, the buzzard, the Biancone, the Allocco, the Civetta, the Assiolo and the Barbagianni.

Alberese
Alberese is home to the most famous beach in the park and certainly the easiest to reach. The beach of Marina di Alberese is a real wonder: Macchia Mediterranea, crystal clear sea and an expanse of pristine sand interrupted from time to time by branches and tree trunks carried by the sea and with which it is customary to build small huts, to shelter from the Sun.

Marina di Alberese beach can be accessed on foot or by bicycle, leaving the car in the nearest parking lot and then continuing along a path of about 8km, or using the shuttle service. Paid parking directly on the sea is limited to 140 parking spaces.

Dunes and Uccellina Mountains
The Parco della Maremma is also known as the Uccellina Park, a large part of the territory is in fact included in the area of the dunes and the Uccellina mountains.

The Uccellina Dune section is one of the sandy coast stretches of the Maremma Park, here the nature is still strongly wild, the dunes are preserved for the growth of wild plants, especially of an endemic plant of this place the Limonium etruscum.

The Uccellina Mountains are a hilly chain that runs parallel to the Mareman Coast which involves the municipalities of Orbetello, Magliano in Toscana and Grosseto. Hidden by the dense Mediterranean vegetation, on the Uccellina Mountains you can still see numerous towers and the ancient Abbey of San Rabano. The Abbey of San Rabano was a monastery, it was built by the Benedictines between the 11th and 12th centuries, near the Romitorio dell’Uccellina, in 1307, the Benedictine monks left the monastery to the Knights of Jerusalem who remained there for about two hundred years . From the sixteenth century, it was abandoned. Among the watch towers, the most important are those of Castel Marino, Collelungo, dell’Uccellina, Cala di Forno, Poggio Raso, delle Cannelle, Capo d’Uomo, Bassa, and finally the Torre della Bella Marsilia. This last one is linked to a legend. It is said that on April 22, 1543, there was a pirate raid during which the Saracen pirate Barbarossa kidnapped the young Margherita Marsili, a young girl who, for her extraordinary beauty, was nicknamed “the Beautiful Marsilia”. It is said that once taken to the Sultan Solimano Il Magnifico, he fell in love with Margherita and made her his bride.

MAREMMA PARK

Visitor Center: Via del Bersagliere 7/9 Alberese (GR)
Tel. +39 0564 393238
e-mail: centrovisite@parco-maremma.it

website : www.parco-maremma.it