Description of the attraction
The San Rossore Massaciuccoli Natural Park stretches along the coast of the provinces of Pisa and Lucca in Tuscany, in a place where there were once only shallow ponds and swamps. Over time, this area was filled with sediments brought by the Serchio and Arno rivers and the Tyrrhenian Sea. But this is also the creation of human hands - it was a man who laid canals here and drained the soil. Reclamation began during the reign of the Medici Dukes.
The geographical location and climatic conditions contributed to the formation of various ecosystems on the territory of the current park: here you can find extensive coastal zones, overgrown with forests with a predominance of deciduous and coniferous trees, wide sand dunes and beaches, the best of which are Tirrenia and Marina di Vecchiano, as well as water wetlands of international importance. The latter include Lake Massaciuccoli and the San Rossore swamps.
The variety of landscapes - dunes, sandy beaches, forests, Mediterranean shrubs, cultivated areas - and the availability of water resources (swamps, ravines, canals, swamps, lakes, rivers and ponds) are the main features of San Rossore Park. They determine the richness of the local flora and fauna.
The bird kingdom is unusually numerous and diverse: both nesting and migratory birds live here - red herons, wild ducks, swamp harriers and others. There are a lot of deer and wild boars in the park, as well as small mammals such as foxes, porcupines, dormouse, badgers and squirrels.
The flora of San Rossore includes such rare species as the sundew (a small predatory plant), the Greek liana, the marsh orchid, the pink hibiscus and the Florida fern. In the coastal zone and the dune zone, there are pioneer plants - sand cornflowers and bunches of Eriantus ravenna.
Among the traditional activities developed in the park, one can name agriculture, picking pine nuts, animal husbandry and sheep breeding. Visitors to the park can witness horse races at the San Rossore racecourse, also known as Prato degli Escoli, a very popular event. Part of the park, which is part of the province of Pisa, is divided into three villages - San Rossore in the very center, Coltano and Tombolo in the south.
