Scala dei Turchi (ITA040015)
Type of site: SIC - Site of Community Interest
Code: ITA040015 - Hectares: 30
Description:
Other Site Characteristics
The SIC area falls within the territory of the municipality of Realmonte. The landscape is characterized by steep cliffs made up of marly limestone and globigerine marl,
as well as clayey badlands. and from extensive sandy coasts. From the geological point of view, the area is mainly made up of marly limestone and globigerine marl (Trubi)
of the lower Pliocene, from gray-blue marly clays and clays of the middle and upper Pliocene and from the margins of marine terraces consisting of calcarenites and
Pleistocene conglomerates that make up the edges of the cliffs. The soils are mostly classified as alluvial and regosols. Precipitation varies between approx
510 and 590 mm on average per year, with average temperatures of 17-18 ° C, and a bioclimate that can be defined as the lower dry upper thermomediterranean. In appearance
vegetation, the area is characterized by pioneering aspects of unconsolidated sands and dunes, in particular in Cakile maritima in the sections closest to the
shoreline, and inland from cenosis to Agropyron junceum, to Ammophila arenaria, and to Ononis ramosissima and Centaurea sphaerocephala. The ancient communities
of internal scrub have often been eliminated by anthropic action, and modest strips are today represented by shrub species such as Pistacia lentiscus,
Asparagus horridus, Phillyrea media, Prasium majus, Rubia peregrina, but above all from some relict nuclei of open scrub to Juniperus turbinata. On
clayey-gully outcrops there are also shrub communities in Salsola verticillata (Pegano-Salsoletea), as well as grasslands in Lygeum spartum and
halophilic therophytic grasslands. In the area there are also secondary shrubs with Calicotome infestations and therophytic grasslands. Along some impluviums they are present
nuclei of reed beds with Phragmites communis and tamarisks.
4.2Quality and importance
The area includes some of the most beautiful coastal areas of Sicily as well as some relics of Lycian cedar scrub. Characteristic elements of the area are the
suggestive cliffs from a landscape point of view, consisting of marly limestone and globigerine marl and the characteristic bright white color, as well as gullies
clayey and sandy beaches practically inaccessible. Overall, the site has a high value both under the landscape aspect and under that
purely naturalistic. Some species of endemic Sicilian orchidological flora are also represented
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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