Mount San Giuliano
Site type: SAC - Special Conservation Area
Code: ITA010010 - Hectares: 999
Description:
The area of the SIC, extended for about 987 hectares, includes the interesting promontory of Monte S. Giuliano (786 m asl), at the top of which is the inhabited area of Erice, an ancient center of significant historical interest. It is a relief characterized by substrates of a carbonate and silico-clastic nature, sometimes with a rather harsh and uneven morphology, with bristly cliffs, sometimes quite steep. As regards the bioclimatic characteristics, from the comparison between the thermopluviometric records of the coastal station of Trapani, compared with those detected in Erice, it appears that the territory is located between the upper semiarid thermomediterranean, coastal areas, to the upper subhumid mesomediterranean, of the highest part. The vegetal landscape is somewhat modified by anthropic intervention, due to the intense uses of the past (cutting, cultivation, pasture); starting from the 20s, various reforestation interventions have been carried out, through the use of various forest species, Mediterranean and exotic, in any case completely unrelated to the native forest landscape, mainly to refer to the Olivastro series (Oleo- Euphorbio dendroidis sigmetum), Downy oak (Oleo-Querco virgilianae sigmetum), Leccio (Pistacio-Querco virgilianae sigmetum and Rhamno-Querco ilicis sigmetum).
It is an area characterized by very diversified climatic conditions in very short spaces, constituting a biotope of particular importance, despite having been man-made since very remote times. The aspects of rocky vegetation are also quite interesting, characterized by various endemic entities, of considerable flora-faunistic and phytocenotic interest, often indicated by various authors among the most significant examples to enhance the biodiversity of the coastal strip of western Sicily, as well as of the entire Mediterranean region. The landscape is somewhat denuded, largely characterized by aspects of vegetation in Chamaerops humilis or Ampelodesmos mauritanicus; well represented are the chasmophytic formations, located along the coastal and inland cliffs, in which a large number of endemic species and / or of significant phytogeographic interest are represented. of Centaurea erycina, recently described, is an exclusive entity, linked to the rupicolous environment. In the list reported in section 3.3, some interesting floristic elements are also mentioned, whose presence in the territory is considered to be of particular phytogeographic interest (D). The site is home to rare species of falconiformes
Source: Ministry of the Environment Natura 2000 form
Ministerial data: Ministerial Map Natura 2000 form
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Photo: web
Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero, Region of Sicily
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