NATURE - Parks and Reserves

WOODS OF ST.THERESA AND LUCCI
(Natural Apulian Park)

The woods part of the Natural Regional Reserve are named “Lucci”, “Preti”, “St. Theresa”, and the little wood named “Parco Colemi”, divided by wide cultivated areas. In the past, they were part of a whole and large wood of Cork Oaks (Quercus Suber).
The Wood of St. Teresa, just outside Tuturano, is made of two parts that cover a total amount of 25 hectares. The area was anciently included in the feud of Valerano, donated in 1107 to nuns of Brindisi, who were already owning Tuturano since 1097. Still in the same area near Tuturano, there is the park “Colemi”, deeply altered from its original vegetation structure, mostly because nowadays it’s destined to be a public park open even to motorized traffic.

The wood named “Preti”, a small area of just 2 hectares of cork oaks, is the remaining part of an much larger ancient area: a study dated 1995 reports that the wood had an extension of more than 15 hectares.
Not far, towards Mesagne, there is the “Lucci” wood, that lies on a surface of about 8 hectares; also in this case the wood was anciently much larger. Some studies report that it was already “adult” during XVIII century and during 80’s there were trees tall up to 7 meters and more. These wood extend along a large protected area of a total surface of about 190 hectares, on a soil with a prevalent clay composition that enhance the stagnation of surface water, that allows the growing of Cork Oaks (Quercus Suber), a rare specie that gets special importance from the bio-geographic point of view for the whole Adriatic Italian coast line.
The other plant species present are the Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo), the Mastic (Pistacia lentiscus), the Tree Heath (Erica Arborea), the Myrtle (Myrtus communis), the Honeysuckles (Lonicera), the Cistus (Cistus) and few plants of Oaks (Quescus macrolepis).

The wood has an overall good condition, among the best preserved in Apulia, mainly thanks to the action of private owners, who take care of these areas. It is home for several animals like the European Badger (Meles meles), the Leopard Snake (Zamenis situla), the Italian Tree Frog (Hyla intermedia) and the Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus).

The wood's areas

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