Fluffy guardians
The bus driver kindly drops us off at the entrance to the Italian State Forestry Office in Lido di Tarquinia. As we pass by a runnel along the driveway, cuddly-size nutrias come so
Ancient peculiarity
The region owes its peculiarity to abnormally high – up to 350‰ – concentrations of salt and its enduring fame tracks back to the Villanovan culture (9th–8th BC), already familiar with salt as a luxurious food preservative. In a brash follow-up, the Etruscans developed a multicultural commercial
With a good binocular...
To distract me from the fuzzy charmers, my partner points to a
With all the raw, humid beauty of the saltpans, it's hard to believe this nature reserve has flourished over an abandoned industrial zone active for nearly 200 years.
The industrial pope
The production plant, including the salt ponds, was constructed by Pope Pio VII in 1802 and closed down only in 1997. Interestingly enough, the wetland had been pronounced "the Natural Reserve of Animal Breeding" already in 1980, which means it simultaneously served as an extraction plant and a protected area for circa 20 years. So far, it might sound like an equilibrium between Nature and humankind, but there's a dark side too.
When the politically frenetic period of Risorgimento (Italian Unification) burst out with convicts sentenced to hard
A most extreme habitat
As we stroll in the mild sun, with the flamingos in yoga poses and ducks bobbing amidst self-assured swans, the rangers chime us with the subaqueous microsphere. "It's one of the most extreme habitats due to the low levels of biologically usable water, high concentrations of ions, elevated levels of UV, and sometimes extreme pH", Alfredo, our second guide, tells us. One of the park's sturdy settlers is graceful Dunaliella salina, a type of flashy algae which in summer
The fact that this minute flora holds the key to biological survival on a global scale fascinates to the bone. It is nothing else but the shivered-upon bacteria that will carry the day if Earth turns uninhabitable for other organisms. Studies of this extreme environment have shown that these simplest microforms are uniquely able to make themselves at home in any hyper-extreme conditions, in no time. "Our generation wasn't taught why we should respect Nature. Our efforts show results among the youngest, even if their enthusiasm plummets later. The seed stays there, though. They become those that pick up litter, not drop it", Alfredo adds on a positive note.
Unstoppable time, irreversible actions
The most evocative reminiscent of the industrial epoch, however, straddles the top of the main road in Lido. The factory, a gaunt block of flaky red brick, feels abandoned with all due eeriness. Only the vintage clock settled into a central pillar keeps running like a ticking mnemonic of unstoppable time and irreversible actions. Staring up at the mechanism, we are only a few meters away from the ecosystem that has been taking over what we degraded.
Unfortunately, the fragility of the ecosystem imposes limited openings to the public, and even these happen to be suspended periodically. Although Lido with the ruins of the ancient port, some of the bird watching stations, as well as the cuddly
Travel essentials
Getting there
There are frequent daily connections between London and Rome from £60 one way. (skyscanner.net). Lido di Tarquinia is an 80-minute ride from Rome via A12/E80 highway or by train to Tarquinia (every hour from Roma Termini station) and the local BC Bus Line to Lido. From EUR16 (£14) return (
Staying there
On Viale Mediterraneo 45, doubles in three-star La Torraccia start from EUR100 (£88)
More information
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