Protected Area
Identity Card
- Land Surface Area: 209.00 ha
- Regions: Lombardia
- Provinces: Mantova
- Municipalities: Cavriana, Monzambano
- Establishment Measures: DCR 1738 11/10/1984
- PA Official List: EUAP0289
- Park Authority: Ente Parco del Mincio
The Nature Reserve
Gentle hills, meadows, and orchards surround a small lake and its Nature Reserve among the moraines in the south of Garda Lake in the territory of Castellaro Lagusello, country hamlet of the Municipality of Monzambano.
The Nature Reserve represents a particular human-natural environment with extremely interesting features both for its landscape and for its historical-archaeological and naturalistic heritage. The mild climate, the presence of the lake and fertile soils have led men to inhabit this place before others, so that the surrounding territory is a wonderful combination of natural elements and elements transformed by the human activity. Several archaeological finds going from the Bronze Age to the Roman and medieval periods witness the constant human presence in the area. The village was founded in the 13th century, is surrounded by beautiful walls with Guelph merlons. The walls enclose the castle with tower and bulwarks and the palace of Marquis Tacoli family, chosen five centuries later by Napoleon as headquarters in two moments of the first Italian campaign.
Flora
Thermophilic downy oak and hop hornbeam woodlands in the hills, dry meadows with wonderful spring flowers on the steep slopes and the summits of the mountains; sedge formations, wet woodlands dominated by alder and gray willow; pond vegetation in the lake basin.
Fauna
The over 50 species of nesting birds include: Great Crested Grebe, Eurasian Bittern, Penduline Tit, Marsh Warbler in the wet environments. The woodlands and dry meadows in the hills are populated by: Common Wood Pigeon, Jay, European Robin, Melodious Warbler, Chiffchaff, and Blue Tit. Moreover, the area houses an endemic amphibian of the Po Plain, very common in the riparian woodlands: the Italian Agile Frog.
The Ancient Medieval Village
The Nature Reserve represents a particular human-natural environment with extremely interesting features both for its landscape and for its historical-archaeological and naturalistic heritage. The mild climate, the presence of the lake and fertile soils have led men to inhabit this place before others, so that the surrounding territory is a wonderful combination of natural elements and elements transformed by the human activity. Several archaeological finds going from the Bronze Age to the Roman and medieval periods witness the constant human presence in the area. The village of Castellaro Lagusello was founded in the 13th century, is surrounded by beautiful walls with Guelph merlons. The walls enclose the castle with tower and bulwarks and the palace of Marquis Tacoli family, chosen five centuries later by Napoleon as headquarters in two moments of the first Italian campaign.
