Riserva Naturale Monte Rufeno

• Trail Conditions: On foot
• Interest: Flora, Wildlife

• Duration: 2 hour/s
• Length: 2.5 km

"Sentiero Natura del Fiore" is the outdoor section of Museo del Fiore, and it was designed to make the visitor discover, through the direct contact with the natural environment:

• the important role of flowers within the complex mosaic of life on earth and of human life across the centuries;
• the importance of preservation as both a natural (objective) and a human (subjective) need;
• the natural characteristics and the peculiarities of Monte Rufeno Nature Reserve.

Along the trail 22 stages have been singled out, where it is possible to see the natural phenomena and peculiarities presented inside the Museum. The drawings and the texts of the explanatory boards make use of a simple language, so that they can be easily understood by the youngest visitors, which is at the same time rigorous, scientific and effective. Some stages house collections of traces of natural life, and especially of those traces which are difficult to detect to the unpracticed eye, such as raptors' pellets, porcupine quills, galls formed by insects, bird feathers and so on. One stage is fully dedicated to the old mill, with a description of its activities and of the relationship between man and nature. The didactic beehive is undoubtedly another interesting stage: this structure was built to observe bees at work (obviously in such a way as to prevent nuisances such as insect bites). Beehives have one transparent wall, and from behind this safe observatory visitors can follow these pollinators' complex life.
Walking along the Nature Trail, you will learn to know plants and animals and to understand some of the most important biological phenomena, as well as the interaction between the several ecosystems; you will also learn about the local history and about man's responsibility towards the environment.