Overview
The Botanical Garden of Porto Caleri
Walkways from the sea to the lagoon cross it as if from a bird's eye view
The Porto Caleri Coastal Botanical Garden is unique among Italian protected areas, partly because reaching it is in itself a naturalistic experience, along an embankment between river and lagoon, but mainly because in its 44 hectares it offers a complete overview of those coastal habitats that in the vast majority of our coasts have been obliterated by the construction of ports or sacrificed to the needs of seaside tourism. One of the jewels in the crown of the Po Delta Park, for which it also serves as a Visitor Centre, the Botanical Garden is located at the end of the coastal road from Rosolina Mare down to Porto Caleri.
It is a sui generis 'garden', far from cultivated, in the sense that nature is the undisturbed ruler as a matter of principle. In fact, the hand of man can be seen in the mostly elevated equipped routes, that pass from the coastal dunes to the lagoon through the evergreen forest which represents the most complex ecological stage of this environment. With a special reference to the beautiful beach, left in its natural state, with large sun-bleached logs, carpets of dried seaweed and flying seabirds.
The numbers of the Botanical Garden of Porto Caleri are unequivocal: hundreds of plant species, some exclusive to the Upper Adriatic, and the same is true for fauna, especially winged, resident and migratory. However, it is a small wader that has been gaining attention in recent times: it is the plover (Charadrius alexandrinus), which has the unfortunate habit of laying its eggs in a simple hollow at the foot of the coastal dunes; perfectly camouflaged eggs, but nevertheless at the mercy not only of natural predators, seagulls, crows and magpies, but also of other beach-goers: careless bathers, out-of-control dogs, stray cats and the like, so much so that its disappearance is feared. Porto Caleri is one of the last Adriatic beaches where the nesting of this species is protected in a way that promises much for its future.
Of the three routes that lead into the Garden, the most exciting is undoubtedly the one that with a winding course – three kilometres in all, mostly elevated – passing from the pine forest to the sea stopping in the lagoon, where a scenic gazebo on piles is an unmissable subject for photographs. If given the choice, take the path in the late afternoon when the inner water surface lights up with the colours of sunset. And if you want to push it, plan the outing from May, during the flowering period of the limonium, the little marsh plant that covers the ground in a violet mantle, fading into the iridescent green of the lagoon.
Rosolina is the Adriatic municipality that spans the coastal strip between the Adige and Po di Levante rivers. The capital is on the Strada Romea, with all the hustle and bustle that comes with it nowadays, but you just have to move away from it to enter the most authentic atmosphere of the kind of last frontier that is the Po Delta. Going back a little further, we are talking about the 1950s, the only settlement on the coast was Caleri, an outpost visited only by sailors and hunters. Along the coast, an endless dune beach, then the pine forest and a lagoon with a mosaic of fishing valleys. The first tourist settlement dates back to 1963, and from there it grew to today's Rosolina Mare – 300 residents and 150,000 seasonal tourists – while, on balance, succeeding in preserving the surrounding environment, with a particular pride in the creation in 1990 of the Coastal Botanical Garden.
Among the more than two hundred plant species recorded in the Botanical Garden, the star attraction is undoubtedly the Sea Herring (Eryngium maritimum): triangular, leathery, thorny leaves, waxy on the surface, grey-green in colour with bluish tones, and amethyst-coloured inflorescences, giving rise to hooked fruits destined to be dispersed by anyone who has the chance to touch them, hence the popular name of calcatrèppola. On top of this, it is one of the few plants to endure the extreme conditions of the beach - salt, heat, wind, aridity - set in the dunes in the front line. In other words, a plant that would not look out of place in a hypothetical Martian flora.
Credit to: Francesco Soletti
