Home | Discover the park | History | Ecosystems

Ecosystems

The Maremma Park is a territory rich in ecosystems where natural and wild environments are connected with landscapes where there is the human presence since ancient periods, in a dynamic accurate equilibrium to the conservation of its biodiversity.

Forest environment

It is the typical environment of the Uccellina Mountains, small mountains where there are about 3,000 hectares of trees and bushes; they are hills and the highest location is Poggio Lecci (417m s.l.) The forest vegetation is rather diffferent, from oaks that are the dominant species, to the typical Mediterranean vegetation, with a dense bush rich in different species.

Pine woods

Typical and characteristic wood of the coastal landscape in Maremma, the pine woods are the result of an intense work of reforestation made over the centuries. It is an example the Grand Duchy Pine Wood that almost uniformly covers, for about 600 hectares, the area between the Ombrone river, the sea and the slopes of the hills.

Coastal environment

The Maremma Park coastline extends for 25 km from Principina a Mare to Talamone and it includes the Ombrone river mouth, in the north of Marina di Alberese. It ‘a very different type of coastline, characterized by sandy beaches with large dunes as Collelungo and Principina, bays as Cala di Forno and cliffs as the coast in Talamone.

Wetlands

The territory of the park has about 700 hectares of wetlands, which show a past where ponds, swamps and marshes were the dominant landscape of Maremma. The marshy areas are located near the Ombrone river mouth and the Trappola marsh, a wetland of international importance, is close to its right bank.

Agricultural environment

The agricultural environment is one of the most important area in the Maremma Park, where cultivated fields, vineyards, fruit trees, olive groves and wide grasslands  are close to the wooded hills,  to the pine wood and wetlands that extend on the right and on the left of the final flow of the Ombrone river. Between the  cliffs and the pine wood, in the area which goes from Scoglietto and to Collelungo, there are large grasslands as the Piana dei Cavalleggeri and the Piana delle Caprarecce and large lawns are along the road to Marina di Alberese, where the Maremma cows graze.

Hydrographic net

In addition to the Ombrone river, the territory of the protected area is characterized by a net of secondary water fows, mainly artificial, made during the reclamation process of the alluvial plain.

Caves

Known caves inside the park area are 20.

  • Grotta dello Scoglietto
  • Buca dell’Anselmi
  • Grotta dei Cenci
  • Pozzo del Granduca
  • Buca delle Ossa
  • Grotta delle Caprarecce
  • Grotta la Fabbrica
  • Grotte di Collelungo
  • Buca della Verifica
  • Grotta dell’Acquazzone
  • Tana di Buratta
  • Grotta di Cala di Forno
  • Grotta la Casa
  • Buca dei Mori
  • Grotta di Stoppa
  • Grotta del Pescinone
  • Grotta di Golino
  • Pozzo Doberdò
  • Grotta di Poggio Bernarda
  • Grotte di Spaccasasso