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Natural Enviroment in Emilia-Romagna

Natural vegetation has been greatly reduced by agriculture. The forests, at one time very extensive, today are small and cover only 17.2 percent of the region: almost absent from the plains, with the exception of the beautiful pine forests (those of Cervia and Ravenna are two of the most famous), the Mesola forest and a few wetlands, they appear on the outlying hills, with white oak, chestnut and Turkey oak up to approximately 900 m. Above this height, up to 1,600 m., lie Beechwood's, with a variety of other species (mountain ash, white hornbeam, mountain elm, etc.), beyond which bilberries, juniper and gentian are found. One of the most important Apennine environments is that of the Casentinesi forests, bordering with Tuscany (in which two-thirds lie).

The fauna, partly introduced, includes red and roe deer, also indigenous animals, such as the fallow deer and mouflon. Other mammals present are the wildcat, badger and squirrel. One of the region's most important wetlands is Punte Alberete, between Ravenna and the Comacchio valley, characterized by an abundance of marshland vegetation with predominantly forest trees on the dunes and aquatic flora in the hollows. This is probably one of the most extensive and remarkable waterlogged forests in Italy, whit white poplar, white willow, elm, ash and many other trees. In addition, there are varieties of shrubs and colourful flowers, with stretches of cane-brakes, bulrushes and reed beds and typical waterside flowers, such as the marsh iris, and aquatic flowers, like the water-lily.

The wildlife includes numerous birds (particularly waders, duck and other waterside birds), large numbers of amphibians (most important are, the swamp turtle and the crested newt) as well as fish. In the hills the argillaceous nature of the soil, together with climatic conditions and surface features, has given rise to characteristic forms of erosion caused by the combined activity of free-flowing and channelled waters, and the so-called calanchi, long narrow, close-set runnels, divided by sharp vertical walls. This gives entire slopes a curiously impressive appearance, and being devoid of vegetation, an air of desolation. An unusual environment, as far as scenery and its morphological characteristics are concerned, and exceptional from mineralogical point of view, is that of the `Gessi Bolognesi', round Bologna: among clay and Miocenic sulphurous chalk formations, an exceptional variety of chalk forms are found, in grottoes, dolines and hidden valleys.

The vegetation is interesting due to the presence of warm climate species, such as the holly oak, fillirea variabilis, buckthorn and toad flax; at least 550 different plants have been listed, including rare species such as the Cheilantes Persica fern, once believed to be extinct. Another environment of great interest to the naturalist, at the margins of the Bolognese Apennines, is that of the salse (the most beautiful and famous are those of Nirano, near Fiorano Modenese), small mud cones or cracks that expel muddy flows sometimes with a bituminous content, associated with underground hydrocarbon deposits.

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