The Wood Most of the territory of the Natural Reserve is covered with lush woods stretching over approx. 900 hectares, whose growth is favoured both by the heavy precipitations of rain and the soil fertility. The wooded area is almost uniform on the inner slopes of the crater, on Mount Fogliano and on Mount Venere. On the inner slopes of the crater we find forests of high turkey oaks, while magnificent beechwoods, pure or mixed with turkey oaks, cover Mount Fogliano and Mount Venere, numbering centuries-old specimen with enormous trunks. The presence of the beech tree in this area is quite unusual, since it grows at altitudes (530 m on Mount Venere) well below its lowest altitudinal limit on the Appennines; this fact is due to the favourable climatic conditions of the area. For its outstanding naturalistic and scientific interest, the beechwood of Mount Venere is protected in its integrity. Besides the turkey oak and the beech, the woods of the Reserve contain other arboreal species like the ilex, the maple, the hornbeam, the manna-ash and the elm. Among the brushwood species we find the holly, protected by the Regional Law # 61, 1974, which sometimes can grow up to treelike size, the hawthorn, the butcher's broom, the daphne laureola, the anemone and the alpine squill. A particular wooded formation consists of chestnut groves, which are peculiar to the area of the Cimini Hills. Even if they are subjected to man's influence, these centuries-old chestnut groves serve as real natural woods and are extremely important to the local fauna because they provide shelter to many species of birds and mammals. The fauna dwelling in the woods of the Natural Reserve is extremely varied and of great importance. Although the wild herbivores like the roe-deer disappeared a long time ago, we still can find many species of predators like the pine marten, the fox, the beech marten, the polecat, the weasel and the rare wildcat; the badgers compete with the crested porcupines for holes, which are generally dug under the shelter of some massive volcanic rock. Lately, the presence of the wild boar has become conspicuous. This army of predators feeds on a multitude of rodents like the dormouse, the hazel dormouse, the common vole, the field-mouse, and of insectivores like the mole and the shrewmouse. |
