Although Puglia comprises a diversity of morphological zones with
clearly defined characteristics, it retains a precise uniformity,
conferred by the underlying rock and its structural constant, for the
Puglia landscape consists prevalently of horizontal lines and gentle
contours, which rarely take on the appearance of mountains, even at
higher altitudes. These forms owe their existence to the large
extensions of limestone rock in vast horizontal or sub-horizontal
strata. As a result, there are few water courses, and consequently
considerable karst phenomena.
From north to south, four geographical regions, Gargano, the Tavoliere,
the Murge and Salento (or Salentino peninsula) blend into each other
with little contrast; to these can be added the so-called
Àppennino di Capitanata', ie. the Apennine belt rising with
the Monti della Daunia (1,152 m.), blocking the Tavoliere to the west,
and the flat coastal amphitheatre extending in the immediate hinterland
of Taranto.
Gargano is a blunt compact promontory with a rolling landscape and
steep or terraced slopes. Between the Candelaro and Ofanto rivers and
the Apennines lies the Tavoliere, a vast plain on the Adriatic, with a
low sandy dune-fringed coastline. Towards the south-east, lies the
Murge tableland, formed of great limestone blocks which, to the
south-west, drop steeply towards the Fossa Bradanica (in Lucanian
territory) though sloping gently to the Adriatic coast. The Penisola
Salentina landscape, south-east of the Soglia Messapica, is very
similar.
The Fortore and the Ofanto at the two ends of the Tavoliere are the
principal rivers, both flowing into the Adriatic Sea. In Gargano, Murge
and Salento, surface and underground karst phenomena are widespread
(the Castellana Caves). The largest lakes are the Lesina and Varano
coastal lakes.
The climate is entirely Mediterranean, with mild wet winters
and hot dry ventilated summers. The precipitations, falling mainly in
winter, are somewhat scarce, with a minimum of only 400 mm./year on the
inner coastal belt of the Gulf of Manfredonia. Long ago most of Puglia
was probably covered with Mediterranean scrub, composed of evergreen
bushes and trees, but today only 67,000 hectares are wooded, 5% of the
entire territory of the region.
One of the most beautiful parts of Puglia is Gargano, the `heel of
Italy', the large promontory which juts into the Adriatic Sea, and
culminates in Monte Calvo (1,055 m.). It is likely that, in Roman
times, the whole promontory was a magnificent forest, though little now
remains, the most important traces being the Aleppo pine woods on the
coast, oaks in the valleys and at medium altitudes, together with beech
higher up. An exceptionally interesting characteristic of Gargano are
enormous trees, such as the evergreen oaks at Cappuccini di Vico del
Gargano, the Bosco Quarto Turkey oaks, the Baracconi beeches in the
Umbrian Forest, the yews and the centuries-old San Michele at Monte
Sant'Angelo, together with the two tallest Aleppo pines in Italy (the
higher of the two, known as Zappino dello Scorzone, is over seven
hundred years old, and has a circumference of five and a half metres).
An entirely different environment caused by high salinity is that of
the Saline di Margherita di Savoia, salt pans obtained by transforming
the old Salpi lake, slightly south of Gargano, characterized by vast
evaporation pans and picturesque mounds of salt. The large lakes are
the habitat of large numbers of birds: duck, members of the rail and
stork families and waders, and it is interesting to note the presence
of shorebirds such as the oystercatcher, and gulls, in close proximity
to marshland species including the ringed plover, avocets, herons and
the black-winged stilt.
Between Massafra and Mottola lie the Murge Orientali, a wild zone with
dense low woods, survivors of the great forests that once mantled the
entire plateau. The finest part is the Gaglione forest, mostly great
oak trees, some hundreds of years old and covered with ivy.
Another of the most singular environments in Southern Italy is the
Bosco di Tricase, the sole Italian habitat of the quercus aegilops;
other interesting species here include the white oak and, in
particular, the quercus coccifera, from whose cochineal insect galls
scarlet dye was once obtained.
The Grotte di Castellana, slightly south-east of Bari, is a famous and
much visited series of caves.
Discovered in 1938, they extend prevalently on the level for nearly
2,000 m., and consist of five large and immensely high caverns, linked
by tunnels and corridors, all with splendid stalagmites and
stalactites.
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