Riserva Naturale di Tuscania

Tuscania Nature Reserve

Tuscania Nature Reserve, established in 1997 with L.R. 29, covers 1,901 ha in the Municipality of Tuscania. The Park Authority is the Province of Viterbo which, in collaboration with the Municipality of Tuscania, manages the Reserve with the aim to guarantee and promote the conservation and enhancement of the territory and its local natural and cultural resources, to safeguard and recover the natural habitats, to preserve animal and vegetal species, to promote the economic and social development of the local communities involved, and to enhance the natural resources with educational and recreational aims.
The territory of the Reserve is mainly dominated by hills: from a maximum height of 224m a.s.l. in location San Savino (northern section of the Reserve) to the 170-190m of the town of Tuscania and to a minimum height of 30-40m, along the river Marta and in the southernmost section of the territory. The horizon is characterized by furrows and ravines of great landscape value, rich in vegetation, in which the river Marta and its tributaries run. The signs of the past are everywhere, and in some places it is still possible to see the structures of the typical landscapes of this part of Italy housing the luxuriant roughness of the inner Maremma Laziale, the slopes of the coastal Maremma, and the sequence of plains and gorges of the interior Etruria of the area of Viterbo.

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Vegetation and Fauna

The Reserve "houses" two Sites of Community Importance (SCI): SCI IT6010020 Fiume Marta (upper course) and SCI IT60100036 Sughereta di Tuscania, considered by the European Community areas of particular naturalistic interest for the presence of "endangered" habitats and species.
However, the heart of the Reserve is represented by the watercourse Marta. Along the river, above all in the northern section, there are large stretches of hygrophilous and riparian vegetation: poplars, alders, willows, and cane-brake.

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Fauna

Flora

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Geological Features

The whole Province mainly develops on a territory created by the explosive activity of three important volcanic complexes: Vulsino, the northernmost complex dominated by the large Bolsena lake depression, Vicano, with the Lakes of Vico and Cimino in the middle, in the south-east of the capital of the province. The beauty and richness of the whole province are strictly linked to the geological nature of the territory which offers not only unusual landscape features, but also a soil which the volcanic activity provided with a great abundance of elements, making it particularly precious for the development of agriculture.

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History and Archaeology

The area protected by the Nature Reserve is the richest section of Tuscania in archaeological finds.
The areas presenting the highest number of important historical evidences, also from a tourist point of view, are the late medieval historical town center of Tuscania and the hills of Rivellino and S. Pietro, also famous for the extraordinary architectural complexes of the churches of S. Maria Maggiore and S. Pietro. The territory is rich in archaeological evidences dating back to the Etruscan and Roman periods. Most of the evidences consists in "areas of clay fragments" and chamber tombs, isolated or forming rather large necropolises that can be found in the plains near the valleys of Marta, Maschiolo, and their tributaries, or in the areas where these valleys open to form very large plains.

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