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Riserva dello Zingaro - Photo (c)
Luciana Coletti -*Elle*
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La Riserva dello Zingaro
In the province of Trapani, in western Sicily, between San Vito lo Capo and
Castellammare del Golfo the hillsides slope gently to the sea in a myriad
of little coves and herald the beginning of a natural Regional reserve, the Riserva
naturale Orientata dello Zingaro.
Narrow paths, specially laid out on the slopes, lead to the sea or climb up
the hills, making it possible to sight one of the most intact Mediterranean
ecosystems.
Scopello, the main access point to
the Riserva, is perhaps the more evocative
and colorful place of the entire gulf of Castellammare. It is a small
village risen at the end of the 18th century around the "baglio", on a
previous Arab country house. In the low-lying wonderful cove limited by the
stacks and protected by old towers, there is the "tonnara" (tuna-fishing
structure), known sine a long time ago (it is mentioned in documents of the
year 1200); it has worked until few years ago, together with the "baglio",
the buildings and the warehouses.
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Scopello has been inhabited since the prehistoric period (finds discovered
in the caves of the inland document the human presence, starting from the
Paleolithic period), the zone has been known since ancient times because of
the abundance of tunas, which were fished in its sea, so much that the
Greeks called it "Cetaria", that means "earth of the tunas".
The Arabs
founded there a country house, which was inhabited by fishermen and
shepherds and, in 1235, Frederic II the Swabian, after having annexed it
with all the feud to the city Mounte San Giuliano, granted the property to a
group of settlers of Piacenza, who soon left because of the continuous
pirate incursions. In those centuries, in fact, the pirates who infested the
low Mediterranean sea, used the bay of Scopello as a base for their raids:
mooring the ships behind the stacks, they were practically invisible from
the open sea.
The towers give to the landscape
a mystery halo and a fascinating atmosphere, which mixes together
nature and history.
They go back to different ages and they were
part of a system of defense and communication distributed along all
the perimeter of the Sicily: communicating among themselves using
the fire, by night and using the smoke during the day, all the island
could be informed in very little time of any military news.
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Zingaro Beach -
Photo (c)
art.com
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Riserva dello Zingaro - Photo (c)
ervortice
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The oldest tower, probably built by
the Arabs to protect the "tonnara", is the one that rises on the
stack that was once connected to the mainland, which could be
approached through a bridge or probably a scale that was carved in
the rock itself. The Doria tower, from the name of the Spanish
nobleman who let it build on the terrace that faces the bay, goes
back to the XVII century. Another one, the Bennistra tower, is the
one built in the XV century on the top of a mount in the south of
the "baglio" and that dominates from its exceptional point of
observation the entire gulf of Castellammare.
Flora and fauna:
This area is the nesting territory for dozens of avian species: peregrine
falcons, Bonell's eagles, buzzards, kestrels, kites and other birds included
in the red list of endangered species.
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The reserve is a real oasis of biodiversity, also rich in many rare native
plants like the dwarf palm, the symbol of Zingaro, which spontaneously
grows in every recess and declivity.
How to get there:
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By car from Trapani with SS 187 TP-PA
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Trapani-Birgi Airport: motorway A29, direction Palermo,
Castellammare del Golfo exit, direction Scopello.
(how to get to Trapani)
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Palermo: motorway A29, Palermo/Mazara del Vallo,
Castellammare del Golfo exit, direction Scopello.
Courtesy of AAIPT Provincia di Palermo,
Palermo Official Tourist Board
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(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
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