The natural reserves in the province of Enna

They have areas for tourists. Suitable for walking and bird watching.

Russomanno

Rossomanno looks like an oak forest with plants of eucalyptus and domestic pines developed from the 1950s also for economic reasons linked to the exploitation of paper mills.

It has come to a very interesting area from a naturalistic and landscape point of view , on which the cultural relevance of human stratification is superimposed. Next to the original wood, today we also find pear trees, chestnut trees, oaks and holm oaks .

From a geological point of view, the area looks like a set of hills, between 600 and 800 meters above sea level, made up of deposits of sandstone and river sands.

From the vegetational point of view, the ancient oak woods that represent the original population remain, which were later joined by the eucalyptus trees , while on Monte Rossomanno the pine dominates. Here it will be possible to take an excursion to the so-called Enchanted Stones .

The place of the reserve has become a pleasant meeting place for the inhabitants of the place due to the presence of some areas for tourists cared for by the company.

Sambuchetti Campanito

The Enna peaks, between Cerami and Nicosia, of Campanito and Sambughetti, ideal continuum of the Nebrodi chain , are unique pearls for the rarity and vegetational variety of illustrious presences: it is here that we find in fact the relict of a rich beech forest, with many specimens old, 20 meters high.

In the upper part of the Bosco della Giumenta , on the summit of Mount Sambuchetti, the 1,400 m forest is actually what remains of a beech forest (a typical tree of the Nebrodi and Etna) formed in the glacial period, in fact, it is the highest station of Italy. In the Reserve there are also oaks and chestnuts, maples, turkey oaks and hollies. The cork forest is also of considerable importance (we are not far from the reserve of the Sughereta di Niscemi ).

In the humid areas, at about 1,300 m asl, between lakes and small ponds, at the foot poplars and willows amphibians reproduce such as the painted discoglossus and the warty common toad , while in the waters the collared grass snake and the marsh turtle swim.

The establishment of the Reserve has not harmed the development of natural human activities: eco-compatible economic activities, linked to tourism and leisure, continue and are reinvigorated thanks to the flow of visitors.

Mount Altesina

A few steps from Leonforte , this naturalistic area of considerable value covers about 750 hectares. The protection bond was established in 1999, due to its vegetational emergencies, such as oak woods, holm oaks, pine and eucalyptus .

In the undergrowth, rich in butcher's broom, woodpeckers and squirrels, hedgehogs and weasels still live today. The sparrowhawk , in particular, nests on the highest branches of trees or, at times, even in the middle of bushes. It feeds on small birds and small mammals that it hunts, both in the woods and in cultivated land, and which it captures after having launched into dizzying and spectacular swoops.

Monte Altesina , whose top allows for an observation at three hundred and sixty degrees, was certainly used by man, who dug his tombs there, since the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age. Finds of Sicilian and Greek pottery testify to the passage of different populations; in the surroundings the ruins of settlements dating back to the 1st millennium BC are still visible.

Its summit served above all for the control of the penetration routes, but it was also a refuge for local populations during the invaders' raids, this site records presences up to the late Norman period.

Pergusa

In the province of Enna , this lake with special characteristics is one of the youngest reserves. First of all, it is one of the few natural lakes in Sicily , which over time has become a wetland and brackish water area. It covers about 400 hectares on a circuit that is now also a racing track. On these shores Pluto would have consumed the famous abduction of Proserpina , daughter of Ceres, goddess of the harvest.

From the chasm that opened this lake was born, the only wet area in the center of Sicily and therefore a preferential stopover area for migrants. Depending on the season, the shores are now inhabited by gray herons, egrets, black-winged stilts, curlews, or mute swans, black storks, flamingos and great white herons .

Quite frequent in summer that the waters take on a red color , due to the pigments of a particular shrimp that grows there.

Court plan

" Vallone di Piano della Corte " is located in the territory of Agira, established in 2000 offers landscape aspects of great naturalistic and educational-cultural value and in fact in 2002 the "Naturalistic-Environmental Laboratory" was inaugurated at Palazzo Giunta . This structure collects rocks, minerals, plants, fungi, entomological collections, vertebrates and more.

The Reserve extends over a valley that belongs to the central Erei and closes the upstream part of a tributary stream of the Dittaino. The course of the water creates gorges and shapes the slopes as a result of erosion and landslides.

In the middle sector of the valley, impermeable sedimentary rocks emerge which allow the formation of pools and hollows . The valley floor of the upper part of the reserve is occupied by a dense riparian bush with Pioppo and Salice.

The undergrowth is made up of various shrubs, lianas and herbaceous species. At the edge of the wood there are thick bushes where the Bramble, together with lianose species, forms a dense and impenetrable intertwining.

High shrub vegetation with tamarisk settles on the valley floor.