Monte San Bartolo Regional Natural Park

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Introduction

The Monte San Bartolo Regional Natural Park, established in 1996, covers an area of 1586 hectares and extends along the coast between Pesaro and Gabicce.

Description

The LANDSCAPE 

It is mainly characterised by the stretch of high coastline, with living cliffs, rare in the entire Adriatic. The rest of the protected area is made up of an interesting and characteristic rural landscape that, until the 1950s, was actively cultivated even in places that would be unthinkable today, on the edge of the sea.
 San Bartolo therefore has two distinct environments: the sea cliff and the inland slope. The cliff emerges from the shallow beaches of the Marches as an undulating succession of spurs and valleys, interspersed with sheer walls that display geological features of great interest, with precious fossilised fish and rare gypsum crystals. The alternating sandstone, marl and clay banks slope more gently towards the sea and mix with the ancient landslides that dot the cliffs. The heights of the highest peaks close to the sea, such as Monte Castellaro or Brisighella, do not reach 200 metres, but they allow a wide view of both the "painted landscapes", as Tonino Guerra called them, of Montefeltro, San Marino and Romagna, and of the coast and the sea, where the Park's overhanging crags form a seascape unusual for the typically sandy coasts of Romagna and Le Marche. At the base of the cliff runs a thin beach of gravel and pebbles resulting from the demolition and collapse of the walls above. In the past it was used as a convenient quarry for paving stones that were directly loaded onto boats and exported to other coastal towns. An example of this are the old cobblestones of the city of Pesaro and the villages within the park area.
 The rural landscape that can be seen in the stretch that gently slopes towards the Adriatic state road conveys a sense of harmony, a kind of vital and pleasant interweaving of cultivated land, renaturalised abandoned fields and rows of trees and hedges.

THE FLORA 

Contrary to expectations that want an extremely poor anthropised area, the San Bartolo Park now offers its visitors pleasant and evocative emotions. In the area above 'Baia Flaminia', for example, it is possible to observe a very rare plant known as maritime flax, the only one found in the entire region. Equally significant are the reed and the cliff carrot, found in few other places on the Marche coast. Among the pioneer vegetation, present on the steepest slopes, we find Pliny's reed, while in the driest and most stable soils we find fragrant broom, capable of providing, at the moment of flowering, unforgettable and colourful contrasts of yellows emerging from the blue of the sky and the green of the sea. Where the slope is gentler and a certain amount of organic detritus accumulates, one can find madder, Etruscan honeysuckle and young plants of Aleppo pine, originating from the spontaneous dissemination of reforestation. In the wetlands, white poplars, black poplars and rarely white willows can be found. Here too, as in the hinterland, the same mixed woodland associations of oak and hornbeam can be observed, where turkey oak is increasingly rare while downy oak is much more common, together with ash, maple and field elm.
 The presence of some coniferous species such as stone pine, maritime pine and cypress can be traced back to the historical plantings of the Renaissance villas.
 Subsequent reforestation in the 1960s added sycamore maple, aleppo pine, black pine, Siberian elm and other allochthonous species to the park's flora. For the rest, the plant landscape is typical of an agricultural environment, intensively cultivated until the 1950s, where the tree species are represented by olive trees, vines, fig trees, cherry trees, mulberry trees, rowan trees and almond trees, with the presence of rows and isolated specimens of large downy oaks, interspersed along hedges of tamarisk and marramisks. On the whole, therefore, the appearance of the park in the inner belt is also very suggestive and harmonious, especially where a few large hedges adorn the edge of the cultivated fields that extend up to the edge of the cliff.

FAUNA 

The park, especially in winter, when the disturbance from recreational and fishing activities is reduced, is home to a large number of seabird species. The area has been designated as a wetland of national importance because it is home to numerous wintering birds such as the lesser and greater spotted porpoise, gulls, coral gulls, three-toed gulls, common and herring gulls, eider ducks, saffron vultures, cormorants, lesser shearwaters, great crested and little grebes, great crested loons, great egrets, herons, egrets and sometimes swans, as well as cranes and black and white storks.
 The San Bartolo Nature Park is a preferential migration route for raptors such as the honey buzzard, marsh harrier and a very rare species: the pallid harrier, as well as many other soaring birds (herons and storks). This is due both to its position along the Adriatic coast and to its particular morphological conformation, as a promontory used as a reference point for bird orientation.
 Among the sedentary birds, mention must be made, in particular, of the peregrine falcon, which, after decades of absence, has returned to permanently inhabit the cliffs, nesting on the sheer cliffs overlooking the sea. Also worth mentioning are the long-eared owl, the little owl, the scops owl and the barn owl, which takes advantage of the constant deterioration of abandoned farmhouses to settle there.
 Among the mammals present are the fox, badger, porcupine, weasel, hare and dormouse.

TURIST OFFERING 

In addition to its naturalistic value, the Monte San Bartolo Park has a notable presence of archaeological and historical evidence, ranging from Neolithic finds in the Monte Castellaro area to the archaeological site of Colombarone, on the ancient Via Flaminia, to the vanished ports of Roman origin of Santa Marina and Vallugola. Between Gabicce Mare and Pesaro, a scenic road winds for about 20 km, passing through or skirting the picturesque fishing villages overlooking the blue sea. The necklace of ancient hilltop towns, from Santa Marina to Gabicce Monte, dominates the cliffs from above.
 The inner alleyways of the walled castles, with their strong mediaeval imprint, conceal small wonders such as around the small square of Casteldimezzo or at the foot of the Fiorenzuola di Focara bell tower, with the door opening onto the emptiness of the sea at its base.
 In the agricultural area, routes can be taken through the traditional agricultural landscape, with its multitude of farmhouses (some of which have been converted into agritourisms) and the network of country roads that make up a capillary network of green paths, often shaded by the large oaks of the sharecropping countryside.
 There is also a guided path, easily accessible to all, that from Pesaro crosses the mountain to arrive, after skirting the Villa Imperiale forest, rich in native and naturalised species, at an observation point that sweeps from the hinterland to the infinite sea horizon.
 Many are the places of faith and religiosity to be found in the protected area: from the Jewish cemetery near Pesaro, to the small rural cemeteries, to the cloistered convent of the Servite Nuns, to the Girolamino convent of San Bartolo (which gives its name to the entire hill), to the Sanctuary of Casteldimezzo. The artistic beauties of these localities (from Jacobello del Fiore's Croci sso to Viviani's canvases) are a prelude to the great aristocratic villas near Pesaro, from the 15th-century Villa Imperiale, with its hidden gardens and frescoed rooms, down to the 18th-century Villa Caprile, with its famous water features, and Villa Vittoria.

 

Information

Foundation Year: 1996
 Area:1586 hectares
Maximum elevation:Mount San Bartolo
Municipalities concerned:  Pesaro and Gabicce Mare
 Institutional site: www.parcosanbartolo.it
Contact: parcosanbartolo@provincia.ps.it