Description of the attraction
The Porto Cesareo Marine Reserve is one of the most beautiful areas of the Salentine coast. It lies just 500 meters from the coast of the peninsula, and under the water you can find typical subtropical plants and animals characteristic of warm waters. In the immediate vicinity of the coast you can find corals and colorful nudibranchs. The overland part of the reserve is covered with dense thickets of Alep pine and acacia.
The coastline of Porto Cesareo is very indented and very diverse - the local landscapes are represented by limestone plains, beaches, sand dunes, bays, coves, rocky cliffs, rocks and river islets. Traces of geological evolution can still be found in this area. It is interesting that in the waters of this particular reserve, biologists discovered the only organism on earth capable of changing its own biological cycle and avoiding the final stage of life of any terrestrial creature - death.
In addition to the incredible variety of marine life that attracts scientists and divers from all over the world, Porto Cesareo has many other attractions. For example, numerous underwater caves, of which only 53 have been explored and described so far, or the island of Isola Grande, which lies parallel to the coast, 1 km from the city of Porto Cesareo. The island is about a kilometer long and about 400 meters wide. The strait separating it from the Salento Peninsula reaches a depth of only 1.3 meters, so you can literally get to Isola Grande by water. At the bottom of one of the bays of this island in 1973, divers discovered a gold ring engraved in the Phoenician language.
2 km south of the town of Torre Sant Isidoro, there is the Palude del Capitano backwater with a depth of about 125 meters. It was formed as a result of the flooding of an underground cave with water, the vaults of which collapsed in the past, and is connected with the sea through a system of complex canals.
The man-made landmark of Porto Cesareo is the Masserie - huge fortified buildings typical of Puglia. 3 km from the coast of Porto Cesareo is one of the most striking examples of rural architecture in Salento - Masseria Giudice Giorgio with a defensive complex. You can also see the Donna Menga Masseria at the Vegile - Porto Cesareo intersection.
In 1960, on the seabed opposite the coastal tower of Torre Chianca, at a depth of 5 meters, seven marble columns with a diameter of 70 to 100 cm and a height of about 9 m were discovered. The columns are partially submerged in the sandy bottom in perfect order - today you can see five of seven columns and a huge square marble block. They all date from the 2nd century AD. and probably ended up at the bottom of the sea as a result of a ship wreck.
A special feature of the Porto Cesareo Reserve is that it organizes underwater diving for … blind people. Since 2009, sightless divers, along with other tourists, can explore the bottom of the reserve and its marine ecosystems.
