Everything about Monte Gargano totally explained
Monte Gargano is a mountain in
Apulia,
Italy forming the backbone of the peninsula
Promontorio del Gargano on the
Adriatic Sea. Most of the upland area, about 1,211.18 km² above the development along the coasts and in the lower valleys, is now a
national park, Parco nazionale del Gargano, formed in 1995. It is administratively part of the
Province of Foggia.
Gargano is a peninsula partly
mountainous and partly covered by the remains of an ancient
forest,
Foresta Umbra, the only remaining part in Italy of the ancient
oak and
beech forest that once covered much of Central Europe as well as the
Appenine deciduous montane forests biome.
Horace spoke of the oaks of
Garganus in
Ode II, ix.
Attractions
The
coast of Gargano is rich in
beaches and tourist facilities. In the north are two major
salt lakes
Lesina and
Varano. On the northern side of Gargano and on the shores of the lake with the same name stands the maritime town of
Lesina. Monte Gargano is the site of the oldest shrine in
Western Europe dedicated to the
archangel Michael,
Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano.
Today tourism is thriving with several hotels and campsites, in particular along the sea-side of
Marina of Lesina, give the possibility of staying in this suggestive area. Tourist attractions include the cathedral, the episcopal palace, the Abbey of Santa Maria of Ripalta and the volcanic rocks dating back to the
Triassic era, known as "Black Stones", as well as the Sanctuary of San Nazario.
The National Park of Gargano is one of the few national protected areas efficiently contributing to the "un Bosco per Kyoto" enterprise, which in 2007 has involved several schools in the realization of projects for a social and responsible tourism. It is one of the most appreciated areas, unique for the decrease of fires and for the politics of environmental awareness.
Annual events
Gargano Peninsula fossils
Some 12 to 4 mya (
million years ago) during the
Late Miocene to
Early Pliocene, a highly
endemic vertebrate fauna evolved on what was then
Gargano Island due to higher
sea levels than today. Several of these animals were subject to
island gigantism.
Stratigraphy
The
fossils are found in partially infilled
paleokarst fissures across Monte Gargano. The Gargano Island fauna is known as
Mikrotia fauna after an endemic
rodent genus of the area. Initially named
Microtia, this had to be corrected, because the genus name
Microtia (butterfly) was already used for
butterflies.
The surface features of the ancient
karst developed in
Mesozoic limestone. In these,
sediment accumulated together with the remains of the local fauna, forming thick layers of reddish, massive or crudely stratified
silty-
sandy
clays, known as
terrae rossae ("red
soils"). Through the mid-
Pliocene, some of these deposits were flooded, probably due to
tectonic movement of the
Apulian Plate. Others were overlaid by other sediments of
terrestrial or
freshwater origin. In this way a buried, partially reworked paleokarst originated.
Later, as the
ice ages cycle got underway, sea levels sank and the former island was continentalized. In the cool and
semiarid conditions of the
Early Pleistocene (some 1.8 - 0.8 mya) a second karstic cycle occurred, producing the neokarst which removed part of the paleokarst fill.
The Mikrotia fauna
The Gargano Island endemic
mammals included:
Deinogalerix - 5 species of gymnures ("hairy hedgehogs"), among them the giant D. koenigswaldi with a skull of c.20 cm length.(Freudenthal, 1972)
Hoplitomeryx - some 5 species of "prongdeer" with five horns and sabre-like upper canine teeth. They ranged from tiny to the size of a red deer, and large and small ones apparently occurred at the same time rather than one evolving from the other.(Laeinders 1984, van der Geer 2005)
Mikrotia - 3 or more species of murine rodent, the only burrowing member of its subfamily known to date. The largest species, M. magna, had a skull 10 cm long.(Freudenthal, 1976, Parra et al., 1999)
Paralutra garganensis - an endemic species of otter
Prolagus imperialis and P. apricenicus - huge endemic pika species- P. imperialis was larger than any other known Prolagus.(Mazza, 1987)
Stertomys laticrestatus - a dormouse of large size. Apparently a monotypic genus.
Non-endemic mammals found on the island included:
Apodemus gorafensis - a field mouse
A prehistoric species of Cricetus hamster (Freudenthal, 1985)
Hattomys - 3 species of giant hamster, at least some of which probably also occurred elsewhere.(Freudenthal, 1985)
Megacricetodon - another hamster (Freudenthal, 1985)
Bird species occurring at Gargano included:
Apus wetmorei, a swift.
Columba omnisanctorum - one of the oldest pigeon fossils known; it probably was more widespread.
Garganoaetus - two species of falconid, one larger than a Golden Eagle, the other well-sized; endemic.
"Strix" perpasta - a true owl, perhaps the same as the widespread Bubo zeylonensis lamarmorae, a paleosubspecies of the Brown Fish-owl (Mlíkovský 2002) but this taxon was usually kown from later times.
Tyto - 2 or 3 species of barn-owls. The largest, T. gigantea, was up to twice as massive as the living eagle-owl Bubo bubo. T. robusta was also large; this species and the former were endemic but actually seem to have been chronosubspecies. The supposed remains of the smaller T. sanctialbani found at Gargano are now placed in the widespread Tyto balearica.
an indeterminate woodpecker.Further Information
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